No death penalty?

9/11 attack: Pentagon wants to stop justice deal

The government of US President Joe Biden wants to stop a judicial agreement with the alleged chief planner of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and other co-defendants. According to US media, they are to be spared the death penalty as part of the agreement.

"The harm to the government and the public will be irreparable if the judge accepts the plea agreements," according to a motion filed by the Department of Defense with an appeals court.

Corresponding agreement already in the summer
The background to this is that US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin wanted to prevent the corresponding agreement back in the summer - however, this step was declared invalid by a military court. The agreement between the defendants and the judiciary is therefore back in force.

3000 people killed
On September 11, 2001, around 3000 people were killed in the worst terrorist attack in the United States to date. Islamist terrorists had steered three hijacked passenger planes into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon near Washington. A fourth plane crashed in the state of Pennsylvania.

Defendants want plea deal 
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has been in the notorious US prison camp Guantánamo in Cuba for many years and is regarded as the chief planner of the attacks. He is also said to have organized the communication and financing of the project. He and two co-defendants want to plead guilty as part of a so-called plea deal. The exact details were not initially made public.

US Defense Secretary Austin initially backed the agreement, but backed out after heavy criticism.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (small picture), mastermind of the attacks of September 11, 2011, has been imprisoned in Guantánamo for many years.(Bild: AP/AP, Sylvie LANTEAUME / AFP, Krone KREATIV)

Eleven other prisoners already released
The outgoing US government recently released eleven more prisoners from the Guantánamo prison camp and transferred them to Oman. The detainees released are men from Yemen. The prison camp is located in Cuba at the US naval base Guantánamo Bay.

At times, almost 800 people were detained there. The camp was set up after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in the USA under President George W. Bush to detain suspected Islamist terrorists without trial. Human rights groups have long been calling for it to be closed.