Leader of 9/11 Family Group Applauds Restoration of Death Penalty Option in 9/11 Cases

The head of a group of family members of victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks said Saturday she is hearing near-unanimous praise for the U.S. Defense Secretary’s nullification of plea agreements for the 9/11 mastermind and two others who would have eliminated the death. pity as a possibility.

The American Civil Liberties Union, however, said it plans to challenge the reversal in court, citing it in a statement Saturday as a “hasty act” that “violates the law.”

Terry Strada, national president of the group 9/11 Families United, said she was shocked by the announcement Friday that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was rejecting a plea deal reached just days ago and was restoring the death penalty. as an option in cases.

He wrote that authority in the matter ultimately rested with him.

“Nobody saw this coming,” Strada said.

But she quickly added that it was the right thing to do.

“These men deserve no mercy,” Strada said. “They certainly showed no mercy to my husband or the 2,976 others who died in the attacks.”

She said the dozens of people in her group with whom she has communicated since Friday night were unanimous.

“Everyone I spoke to wants them to be sentenced to death because that is the punishment that fits the crime and the message that the United States needs to send to terrorists around the world: Let’s hold them accountable and pursue the death penalty,” Strada said. .

And she said a major international prisoner exchange on Thursday was a reminder of the need to ensure that no one was behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that turned hijacked planes into missiles that destroyed the World’s 110-story twin towers. Trade Center and hit the Pentagon will be released.

Strada said several days ago that some of the 10,000 family members of those killed in the attacks are divided over whether the death penalty is appropriate.

Austin’s action came two days after the military commission at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, announced that the official appointed to oversee the war tribunal had approved plea deals with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two accused accomplices, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al- Hawsawi.

In a statement Saturday, ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero said the civil rights group plans to sue to get Austin’s decision reversed.

“It is stunning that Secretary Austin betrayed members of the 9/11 family who sought judicial finality, while recklessly setting aside the judgment of his own prosecutors and the Convening Authority, who are actually immersed in the case. of September 11th. Political and command influence should play no role in this legal process,” Romero said.

He said any decision on the death penalty would not be upheld on appeal because of the torture suffered by those who were captured after the 9/11 attacks and because military commissions are “inherently unfair.”

“After more than 20 years, it is time for our government to accept the defendants’ guilty pleas as the best solution in a terrible circumstance. The 9/11 families and the American people deserve closure and adherence to the principles of due process that are the foundation of our democracy,” Romero said.

The families of those killed in the al Qaeda attacks were informed in letters that the plea agreement stipulated that the men would serve life sentences but not face death.

Strada said family members feared that if they were placed in U.S. prisons, “any future administration could commute their sentence or use them in a possible prison exchange.”

“I’m not a ghoul who wants them to be sentenced to death,” Strada added. “I want them to kill them because I don’t want them to have a voice, ever.”

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