According to a bill introduced by Republican lawmakers in New York State, the federal government would be prohibited from entering into a non-death penalty agreement with terror mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other defendants in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
Republican Rep. Mike Lawler of Rockland introduced the Justice for 9/11 Act after major protests over a deal offered by military lawyers to the accused terrorist killers that would have spared them the death penalty.
Two days later, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin withdrew the shocking deal following strong reactions from the families of the September 11 victims.
“The idea that the Biden-Harris administration would offer a death penalty deal to the very people who planned the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people is a betrayal of our police officers, firefighters and the victims of 9/11 and their families,” Lawler said.
“The Justice for 9/11 Act will ensure that these terrorists are not offered a deal in the future by requiring a trial and ensuring that the death penalty remains on the table,” he continued.
“Anything else would be a disservice to all those who made the ultimate sacrifice on that day and in the months and years that followed.”
Co-sponsoring the bill are Representative Anthony D’Esposito of Long Island and Congresswoman Elise Stefanik of the northern part of the state, chair of the House Republican Conference.
Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) has introduced a companion measure in the other chamber.
Austin, 70, withdrew from the agreement last week – two days after Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and alleged co-conspirators Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi pleaded guilty to the terrorist attack that brought down the World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001, killing nearly 3,000 people.
The latest on the deal that spares the September 11 terrorists the death penalty
The Pentagon chief claimed he was surprised by the agreement.
This decision was made by retired Brigadier General and senior Department of Defense official Susan Escallier, who was selected by Austin to serve in the Office of Military Commissions (OMC).
The office had informed the three al-Qaeda terrorists of the deal, but a Pentagon spokesman said Austin believed it was a “case of such importance that it was appropriate to leave the authority with him.”
Austin concluded that each of the accused terrorists should be tried militarily.
The terrorists have been held at Guantánamo Bay since 2003 – and Republicans in Congress, veterans and the families of the 9/11 victims were shocked to hear of the possible life sentence.
