9/11 Mastermind has offered to help victims of the 9/11 of the capital punishment against him is dropped.
Late Friday night, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s offer was disclosed via a letter, wherein he has offered to help families in a lawsuit against Saudi Arabia.
If the US agrees to drop the death penalty charge against him, then the prime accused and mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks has indicated a willingness to be deposed by victims who are suing Saudi Arabia for damages.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s offer was disclosed in a letter filed in the US District Court in Manhattan by lawyers representing individuals and businesses seeking billions of dollars in damages.
The Saudi government has long denied involvement in the attacks, in which hijacked airplanes crashed into New York’s World Trade Center, the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C. and a Pennsylvania field, killing approximately 3,000 people. It was one of the deadliest terrorist attacks to have ever happened.
The letter also states that the plaintiffs’ lawyers have been in contact with other lawyers for five witnesses in federal custody about their availability for depositions.
Mohammed and three others are housed at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba detention camp and two others are at the ‘Supermax’ maximum security prison in Florence, Colorado.
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The prime reason for him to change his stand will be the waiver of the death penalty.
“Counsel stated that ‘the primary driver’ of this decision is the ‘capital nature of the prosecution’ and that ‘[i]n the absence of a potential death sentence much broader cooperation would be possible,” the letter said. The detainees have been attending pre-trial hearings in their cases.
Though right now, the extent to which he can be useful is still to be ascertained.
The U.S. Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.