The head of a group of relatives of victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks said Saturday that she is hearing almost unanimous praise for the U.S. defense secretary’s annulment of plea agreements for the defendants. Mastermind of 9/11 and two others who would have ruled out the death penalty as a possibility.
The American Civil Liberties Union, meanwhile, has said it plans to challenge the nullification in court, calling it a “hasty act” that “violates the law” in a statement Saturday.
Terry Strada, national president of the group 9/11 Families United, said she was shocked by Friday night’s announcement that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had rejected a settlement reached several days ago and wanted to reinstate the death penalty as an option in the trials.
He wrote that authority Ultimately, the decision in this case 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 other 2,976 who died in the attacks.”
She said dozens of people from her group she had been in contact with since Friday evening were unanimous.
“Everyone I’ve spoken to wants them put to death because that’s the punishment that fits the crime and the message that the United States needs to send to terrorists around the world: We will hold you accountable and we will use the death penalty,” Strada said.
And she said a major international prisoner swap taking place Thursday was a reminder of the need to ensure that no one responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, in which hijacked airliners were turned into missiles that tore through the 110-story World Trade Center towers and landed on the Pentagon, is ever freed.
Strada said just a few days ago that some of the 10,000 relatives of the victims of the attacks are divided over whether the death penalty is justified.
Austin’s action came two days after the military commission at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, announced that the official appointed to oversee the war court had approved plea deals with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two accused accomplices, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi.
In a press release Saturday, ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero said the civil rights group plans to file a lawsuit to overturn Austin’s decision.
“It is astounding that Secretary Austin has betrayed 9/11 family members by seeking a final judicial decision while recklessly overriding the judgment of his own prosecutors and the Convening Authority, who are in fact steeped in the 9/11 case. Politics and command influence should play no role in this legal process,” Romero said.
He said any death penalty would not stand up on appeal because of the torture endured by those captured after the September 11 attacks and because military commissions are “inherently unjust.”
“After more than 20 years, it is time for our government to accept the defendants’ guilty pleas as the best solution to a terrible circumstance. The 9/11 families and the American people deserve closure and adherence to the due process principles that are the foundation of our democracy,” Romero said.
Families of the victims of the Al-Qaeda attacks were told in letters that the plea agreement stipulated that the men would receive life sentences, but that they would not face the death penalty.
Strada said family members feared that if they were placed in U.S. prisons, “a future administration could commute their sentences or use them in a potential prison exchange.”
“I’m not a ghoul who wants them put to death,” Strada added. “I want them put to death because I don’t want them to ever have a voice.”