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| AP Photo/Richard Drew, File |
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) has been in U.S. custody since March 1, 2003, when he was captured in Rawalpindi, Pakistan during a joint CIA-Pakistani intelligence operation. Along with four other high-ranking al-Qaeda leaders identified as planners for the 9/11 terrorist attack, KSM has languished at the prison camp in Guantanamo, Cuba since 2006 after spending several years being interrogated by the CIA and FBI.
It was during those interrogations that KSM was allegedly waterboarded and was subject to other “enhanced interrogation” techniques that led to delay after delay in the military tribunal proceedings.
During the Trump administration, prosecutors tried to work out a plea deal that would have sent the plotters to a supermax prison in Florence, Colo. with life sentences. Those negotiations fell through when the prisoners demanded they serve their life sentences in Guantanamo, which is far less restrictive.
Now the Biden administration is trying once again to settle the legal situation for KSM and the other plotters and has opened negotiations that would give the terrorists life sentences. --->READ MORE HERE
Pentagon prosecutors are reportedly in talks with attorneys for alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and his four co-defendants about a plea agreement that could eliminate the prospect of the death penalty.
Guilty pleas in exchange for a life sentence could finally bring to a close the over two decade-long case, the longest ever at the war court.
Mohammed, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin Attash, Ramzi Bin al-Shibh, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi were all expected to face the death penalty if convicted. Their charges include: terrorism; hijacking aircraft; conspiracy; murder in violation of the law of war; attacking civilians; attacking civilian objects; intentionally causing serious bodily injury; and destruction of property in violation of the law of war.
The al-Qaeda terrorists are accused of hijacking four airplanes and carrying out the coordinated attacks across the US that led to the death of 2,977 plus hundreds more who have died in subsequent years from breathing in toxic particles that were released in the rubble of the attacks.
A lead prosecutor, Clayton Trivett Jr., wrote last week to the defense teams proposing they discuss 'whether pretrial agreements are possible in all five cases.'
'While I cannot guarantee that we will come to terms over these next two weeks putting a concerted effort focused solely on possible agreements while we are all onboard Guantánamo, where your clients and teams are present, may be our best chance of at least determining if deals can be reached,' the email said, according to the New York Times. --->READ MORE HERE
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