President Biden rejected certain conditions requested by five alleged 9/11 plotters, including the accused mastermind of the attack, in exchange for guilty pleas.
A National Security Council spokesman said Wednesday that Biden did not agree with the guarantees requested by the detainees, such as sparing them from solitary confinement and providing them with medical treatment for alleged abuses in CIA custody.
However, avoiding the death penalty was still on the table.
“The President agreed with the Secretary of Defense’s recommendation not to accept the Joint Policy Principles that had been proposed by the 9/11 defendants as a basis for plea negotiations,” the spokesperson said.
“The 9/11 attacks were the worst attack on the United States since Pearl Harbor. The President does not believe that accepting joint policy principles as a basis for a pretrial settlement is appropriate in these circumstances.
“The Administration is committed to ensuring that the military commissions process is fair and delivers justice to victims, survivors, families, and those accused of crimes,” the spokesperson added.
President Biden has rejected certain conditions for plea deals demanded by alleged 9/11 plotters. Bonnie Cash / Pool via CNP / SplashNews.com
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the alleged main architect of the 9/11 attacks, and four other suspected terrorists detained in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, had demanded guarantees from the Biden administration that they would not be forced to serve their sentences in solitary confinement. and continue to be allowed to eat and pray together if they pleaded guilty to terrorism charges, according to the New York Times.
The suspected terrorists also sought treatment for sleep disorders, brain injuries, gastrointestinal damage or other health problems that they claim were caused by “enhanced interrogation techniques” used by CIA agents while in custody.
Suspected terrorists, including Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, could still avoid the death penalty.ZUMAPRESS.com
Biden rejected those conditions, called the Joint Policy Principles in court papers. However, according to the outlet, plea deals that would eliminate the possibility of sentencing the five men to death remain on the table.
Some family members of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the terrorist attacks expressed outrage when the Biden administration notified them last month that plea deals were being considered to spare accused terrorists the death penalty.
According to the New York Times, Biden, 80, took no position on the prospect of eliminating the possibility of sentencing the five men to death, an issue that will be determined by the Office of the Convening Authority of the Pentagon’s Military Commission.
Families of victims of the 9/11 attack have expressed outrage that the Biden administration is considering plea deals that offer accused terrorists life sentences. New York Post
The case involving Mohammed and the four other detainees at Guantanamo Bay has been mired in legal disputes and delays, particularly regarding the treatment of the suspected terrorists during their four years in CIA custody before being transferred. to the US detention center in Cuba in 2006.
One of the accused conspirators, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, was also declared last month by a military medical board incompetent to stand trial or be offered a plea deal and has been excluded from negotiations.
No trial date has been set for the five alleged 9/11 plotters.
The Trump administration had previously ruled out any plea deals with the alleged terrorists.
Biden will not participate in any celebrations at 9/11 memorial sites in New York City, Virginia or Pennsylvania next week, opting instead to join service members and their families at a military base in Anchorage.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn