Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, has reached an agreement with the US courts by pleading guilty to the charges against him.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammedaccused of being the mastermind of the attacks on September 11, 2001 perpetrated by Al-Qaeda against the United States, has agreed to plead guilty.
Two other terrorists, Walid Bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi, did the same.
They have all been held at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay for years without trial, and have accepted the terms of the prosecution, a sentence of life in prison, which will spare them the risk of the death penalty.
According to US media reports, the victims’ families were informed in a letter by the chief prosecutor, Rear Admiral Aaron Rugh, stating that the men would admit to all charges, including the murder of 2,976 people.
The Republican camp is up in arms
As Republicans criticize the deal, Donald Trump’s running mate, JD Vancesaid : ” We need a president who kills terrorists, not negotiates. »
Official arguments are expected as early as next week.
More than 20 years after the attacks
The U.S. deal with the men comes more than 16 years after the U.S. began prosecuting them for the al-Qaeda attack.
It comes more than 20 years after 19 terrorists hijacked four airliners before crashing them into the World Trade Center in New York and on the Pentagon in Washington. The fourth plane, (United Airlines Flight 93), crashed in a field in Shanksville in Pennsylvania
The attacks triggered what the president’s administration George W. Bush called his war on terror, leading to the military invasion ofAfghanistan and of theIraq by the United States and years of U.S. operations against armed extremist groups elsewhere in the Middle East.
The attack and the U.S. retaliation led to the outright overthrow of two governments, devastated communities and countries caught in the battle, and played a role in inspiring the popular uprisings of the 2011 Arab Spring against authoritarian governments in the Middle East.
US authorities have named Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as the originator of the idea to use planes as weapons. He reportedly received approval from al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Ladento develop what became the 9/11 hijackings and assassinations. U.S. forces killed bin Laden in May 2011 during a special forces operation in Pakistan.
Authorities captured KSM in 2003. Mohammed was subjected to waterboarding 183 times while in CIA custody before arriving at Guantanamo, as well as other torture and coercive interrogations.