“A proposal to allow alleged perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks to plead guilty and avoid the death penalty poses a powerful dilemma for victims’ families, some of whom still want to seek the ultimate retribution after two decades of legal limbo. …
For some families of those killed in New York’s World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania say a deal without a trial could mean the entire truth about what happened on September 11, 2001 might never be told.
Others say that every year of delay means that more people pass away without seeing justice for their slain relatives — and increases the risk that the aging defendants themselves could die without ever being found guilty.
‘All 9/11 family members want justice and accountability. Too many of us have died in the last two decades without either,’ said September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, which backs the plea deal.
‘Plea agreements, which could be made right now, would offer finality: an end to the 9/11 military commission, clear admissions of guilt, and life sentences without parole or any possibility of appeal,’ they said.
But Dennis McGinley of the group 9/11 Justice said the deal would leave untold the full story behind the attack that killed his brother Danny in the south tower of the World Trade Center.
‘All this is, is… to prevent a trial from taking place where Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is going to have to spill the beans,’ he said, referring to the self-described 9/11 mastermind also known as ‘KSM.’”
– France 24, “US Plea Proposal for 9/11 Suspects Splits Victims’ Relatives,” france24.com, August 27, 2023