On the Biden administration’s watch, a military judge approved the plea deals for the three terrorists — including suspected 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed — in July before Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin intervened to nix the agreements days later. On Monday, an appellate court affirmed an earlier ruling blocking Austin’s intervention on the grounds that he was too late and acting beyond his authority in vacating the deals, putting them back on the table and frustrating family members of victims in the worst terror attack in U.S. history. (RELATED: 9/11 Widow Slams Biden Admin’s ‘Outrageous’ Attempted Plea Deals For Gitmo Terrorists)
Family members of Sept. 11 victims slammed a December 2024 court ruling that effectively clears the way for three 9/11 terrorists detained at Guantanamo Bay to avoid the death penalty.
Joe Connor, who lost his cousin Steve Schlag on 9/11 decades after his father was killed by Puerto Rican terrorists, said that the back-and-forth nature of the proceedings is adding even more emotional weight to a difficult and sensitive situation.
Specifically, the deals would take the death penalty off the table in exchange for the three Guantanamo Bay prisoners pleading guilty to war crimes charges. The detainees that would be covered by the deals include Mohammed, widely believed to be the mastermind behind the attacks, Walid bin Attash — who is accused of training and assisting hijackers in advance — and Mustafa al Hawsawi, who is suspected of providing financial and logistical support to some of the 9/11 hijackers.
Helen Quinn lost her husband, Michael, years after Sept. 11. Michael was a hardworking electrician who spent more than two years working at Ground Zero on the massive post-9/11 cleanup effort, eventually succumbing from kidney disease she says he developed due to the toxic fumes and particles that workers like her husband were exposed to as they labored in the area of the collapsed towers.
