A group of media outlets is pressuring the U.S. military board at Guantanamo Bay to lift plea deals it struck earlier this year with the alleged masterminds of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York City. are.
Lawyers representing seven news organizations, including The Associated Press, NPR, Fox News, NBC News, The Washington Post, Univision, and The New York Times, argued Friday that the terms of the agreement, which was later rescinded by the Pentagon, did. It should be made public.
“It's totally inappropriate to have an expedient reaction and say, 'Well, we have to hide all this from the press,'” Schultz told the commission's judge, Air Force Col. Matthew McCall. ”. Associated Press reported. “Especially in this context…one of the most controversial, debated and debated prosecutions to ever occur in this country…involving the most horrific crime ever committed on American soil.”
“People have a right to know what's going on here, and they have a right to know now, not in two or three years,” he added.
The request for information was made in July on three people, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid Mohammed Salih Mubarak bin Atash, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al-Hawsawi, who were indicted by the United States on charges of plotting a terrorist attack. This was done after making an agreement with the prisoners. This agreement would have spared them the death penalty.
Days later, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin stated that given the significance of the incident, the fate of the three prisoners “should be in the hands of me, the superior authority under the Military Commissions Act of 2009.” canceled the agreement.
At Friday's hearing, both the prosecution and defense opposed Schultz's request. They cited challenges filed in the lawsuit to Austin's decision.
The Hill has reached out to Schultz for comment.
