Prosecutors and defense attorneys have agreed to plea deals for the men accused of planning the September 11, 2001 attacks, even though the Biden administration has refused to endorse specific terms proposed. negotiations continue, the lead prosecutor said in a courtroom at Guantanamo Bay on Wednesday.
“All of this is swirling around us,” said prosecutor Clayton G. Tribbett Jr., discussing key details of the negotiations in open court for the first time. “We pretty much agreed to do things,” he added, adding, “The positions we took then are still in place.”
In near-secret negotiations in 2022 and 2003, prosecutors obtained detailed confessions from architect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others accused of being accomplices in the hijacking that killed nearly 3,000 people. In exchange, he proposed that the death penalty be dropped from the case. people. One in five has since been found mentally incompetent to stand trial.
The press conference was prompted by a legal petition by lawyers for Ammar al-Baluch, one of the defendants and Mohammed's nephew, asking the judge to dismiss the case on the grounds of substantial or obvious political interference. or at least the possibility of the death penalty. It was announced last summer by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and other members of Congress.
In August 2023, these lawmakers began calling on the relatives of September 11 victims on social media to pressure President Biden to derail the deal to block the death penalty.
At the time, the White House was deciding whether to approve certain conditions sought throughout the talks. The conditions were most concerned with dealing with the physical and psychological damage the men suffered from torture during the early years of CIA isolation.
On September 6, 2023, the White House refused to get involved.
Mr. Baruch's attorney, Rita J. Radostitz, said Mr. Cruz then took a “victory lap.”
“The Biden administration was prepared to accept a plea deal,” Cruz posted on social media. Using the Pentagon's acronym, he continued, “After I pressured the Pentagon, they reversed course and rejected the plea deal. A huge victory for justice.”
But both defense and prosecution lawyers told the judge Wednesday that the White House's position would not derail negotiations.
When Mr. Cruz became involved, the defense attorney “cooperated with prosecutors to present in public a complete investigation of the events of 9/11 and answer all questions of the victims' families about what happened.” '' said Mr. Mohammed's attorney, Gary D. Sowers.
He said any deal would take the death penalty off the table and would require a mini-trial and broadcast of the attack.
The defendants are seeking coverage for trauma treatment for head injuries, gastrointestinal injuries, and mental illness attributed to their time in CIA custody. To continue to eat and pray together, not in solitary confinement. This is for better communication with family members rather than recorded video calls.
But Tribbett said these demands, called “policy principles,” require infrastructure, funding and executive branch approval. So he forwarded them to the Pentagon's general counsel, while his team was secretly negotiating how a plea deal would play out in the Guantanamo courtroom.
He said Congress has a legitimate interest in that side of the negotiations because some guarantees require funding and Congress determines the Pentagon's budget.
Sowers said the negotiated settlements at Guantanamo are not similar to settlements in federal court, where defendants come to plead guilty and are sentenced without a trial.
These negotiations between the prosecution and defense lead to a lengthy, open court process that includes detailed arguments, the presentation of the crime, victim testimony, and, in some cases, an opportunity for family members to have the defendant answer questions. Sowers said progress is underway. .
In military commissions, the process can take several months.
Mr Tribbett told the judge that although he counted about 20,000 people as relatives of the victims of the attack, there was no agreement on “what is justice in this case and what is the appropriate punishment”. His presentation came on a rare week when only one of his relatives was in the audience.
“I'm glad to hear they're still talking and willing to come up with a plausible solution that will give some finality to all involved,” said the man whose brother Bill was killed at the World Trade Center. said Colleen Kelly.
By “everyone,” she meant the families of 9/11 victims, prosecutors and defense attorneys, some of whom have held this responsibility for 20 years, she said. Kelly, a founder of the Sept. 11 Families for a Peaceful Tomorrow movement, arrived at Guantanamo on Saturday as a court-approved “non-governmental observer” to observe a week of public hearings.
This is the third week of a five-week pretrial hearing, and coincidentally, the prosecution did not sponsor the family as guest observers.
As family members watched the trial last month, another prosecutor told the judge that regardless of the outcome of the trial, Mr. Mohammed and others could be held permanently in a form of preventive detention. .
Tribbett said there was no illegal influence on his team as he detailed ongoing discussions. “No one has ever threatened me,” he said, adding that he was under no pressure “not to negotiate in line with what we consider to be a just outcome.”
On Wednesday, Mr. Cruz's press secretary, Darin Miller, said the senator would continue his efforts.
“During his time in the Senate, Sen. Cruz led efforts to combat terrorists ranging from the Iranian-controlled Houthis to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to Hamas, and has been indicted on conspiracy and conspiracy charges. He has advocated against plea deals for terrorists who planned 9/11, and he will continue to do so,'' Miller said.