Major update in fate of 9/11 mastermind

The move could see three men involved in the deadly 9/11 attacks face a public trial.

The chief architect of the 9/11 terrorist attacks could be sentenced to death after a court tossed out a plea deal that would have saved his life.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is accused of masterminding the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States and was regarded as one of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden’s most trusted henchmen.

In 2003, the CIA captured him in Pakistan, after which he spent three years in secret prisons before arriving at Guantanamo in 2006.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged 9/11 mastermind. Picture: AP

Photos taken shortly after his capture during a raid in Pakistan in 2003. Picture: AP

He is said to have planned out the deadly attacks from “A to Z” and was also involved in a string of major plots against the US, where he attended university, the Sun reports.

Mohammed as well as two alleged accomplices – Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi – struck a deal with prosecutors on July 31 and agreed to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence.

The deal would allow the trio to be spared from the death penalty and remain jailed on the southern portion of the American Naval Base in Cuba.

The agreement has sparked outrage from family members of victims who died during the 9/11 attacks.

But a US appeals court on Friday scrapped the agreement, saying that both they and the American public deserved to see the defendants stand trial.

Lloyd Austin, the Secretary of Defence under the Biden administration, attempted to halt the agreement by filing a motion to a military appeals court.

The latest picture of accused terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in Guantanamo Bay in June 2024. Picture: Supplied

In his brief, Austin cited the magnitude of the 9/11 attacks and argued that as defence secretary, he should decide on any plea agreements that would save the three men from the death penalty.

Austin “acted within the bounds of his legal authority, and we decline to second-guess his judgment,” judges Patricia Millett and Neomi Rao wrote in a ruling today.

Congressional politicians have also slammed the plea deal, calling it a “national disgrace” and a “total miscarriage of justice.”

“The Biden-Harris Administration’s weakness in the face of sworn enemies of the American people apparently knows no bounds,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell at the time.

“The plea deal with terrorists – including Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks that killed thousands of Americans – is a revolting abdication of the government’s responsibility to defend America and provide justice.

“The only thing worse than negotiating with terrorists is negotiating with them after they are in custody.”

Al-Qaeda's Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Picture: Handout / WWW.MUSLM.NET / AFP

Mohammed and al-Hawsawi were captured on March 1, 2003, in a joint CIA and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence operation in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi. Walid bin Attash was captured in Karachi, Pakistan, in April 2003.

Mohammed was held in secret CIA prisons up until his transfer to Guantanamo Bay in September 2006.

However, before he was moved to Guantánamo, government officials interrogated Mohammed and his accomplices for years, torturing them and keeping them isolated in undisclosed locations.

Mohammed endured 183 rounds of waterboarding – a form of torture where a person experiences the sensation of drowning when water is poured over a cloth covering their face.

Terror attacks

At least 2,753 people died at the site of the World Trade Center, where two planes crashed into the towers on September 11, 2001.

A third plane hit the Pentagon, while a fourth, which was planned to strike Washington DC, crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after crew members and passengers stormed the cockpit.

The heinous attacks sparked the war on terror after President George W. Bush ordered the US military to invade Afghanistan and Iraq in search of the terrorists responsible.

The US government was warned by the CIA that the likely targets would be famous landmarks or symbols of US capitalism – but they did not know when or how.

And none of them could have imagined the extent or horror of 9/11 when it did happen.

On May 1, 2011, the most classified operation of the last 25 years was launched to kill Osama bin Laden.

The Saudi-born terror chief became the world’s most wanted man, hiding in plain sight in Pakistan for years before U.S. navy SEALs took him out in a daring raid.

In the cover of night, Seal Team Six was sent to Abbottabad in Pakistan – where bin Laden was hiding.

Within minutes, the Seals were within the compound and shot and killed the world’s most wanted terrorist.

This article first appeared in The Sun as was republished with permission.