Alleged 9-11 conspirators withdraw offer of guilty pleas

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Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed shortly after his capture in 2002.

All five of the alleged 9-11 conspirators, including the self-professed ringleader and mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, have withdrawn their offer of guilty pleas after questions were raised on whether by pleading guilty they can receive the death penalty.

During a pretrial hearing at Guantanamo Bay, Mohammed was heard asking: "Are you saying if we plead guilty we will not be able to be sentenced to death?" Mohammed has stated his desire to die as a martyr, but Army Colonel Stephen R. Henley, the military judge at the head of the trial, stated that a death sentence may not be possible without a verdict. Attorneys for the conspirators say that the possibility of no execution led to the withdrawal of the offer.

Alice Hoagland attended the proceedings, and expressed her opposition to any of the conspirators being executed, saying of Mohammed that "I can't think of anybody who less deserves martyrdom". Hoagland's son, Mark, was one of the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93, who are believed to have fought the hijackers of that flight.

Related news

• "Alleged 9-11 conspirators will confess and plead guilty". Wikinews, December 9, 2008
• "Five of six accused over 9/11 to be tried; charges against '20th hijacker' dropped". Wikinews, May 13, 2008

Sources

• "9/11 plotters offer, withdraw guilty plea". UPI, December 9, 2008
• "Day After, 9/11 plotters take back offer to plead guilty". Times of India, December 10, 2008
• "9/11 accused at Guantanamo Bay in bid for martyrdom". The Australian, December 10, 2008
  

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