Loved ones of 9/11 victims react to terror defendant plea deal: 'Lifetime of pain and suffering'

Families who lost loved ones during the terrorist attacks on 9/11 are speaking out after a plea deal was reached for the masterminds behind the attacks. 

Joe Connor, whose cousin, Steve Schlag, was killed on 9/11 and whose father, Frank, was killed in the 1975 FALN terrorist attack on the Fraunces Tavern in New York City, told Fox News Digital this plea deal is very concerning.

"You know, after seeing this, like, I'm so afraid we're not going to get justice for my cousin and all the thousands killed that day and their families. My dad's terrorists, the FALN, they were released. They were given clemency by the Clintons and Obama," Connor said. "It's all politics, and it concerned me then that we were going to have these guys somehow end up in a U.S. prison. It concerns me that someone's going to use politics to release these guys."

On Wednesday, prosecutors agreed to plea agreements with three of the masterminds of the Sept. 11 terror attacks who were awaiting trial in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the Department of Defense (DOD) said.

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The Convening Authority for Military Commissions, Susan Escallier, entered into pretrial agreements with Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin Attash, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi, the DOD said.

The defendants are accused of providing training, financial support and other assistance to the 19 terrorists who hijacked passenger jets and crashed them into the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 11, 2001.

LAWMAKERS, FAMILIES OF 9/11 VICTIMS REACT TO PLEA DEAL WITH TERRORISTS: 'SLAP IN THE FACE'

Terry Strada, whose husband, Tom, a 41-year-old bond broker who died when one of the hijacked planes hit the North Tower, said the terrorists got what they wanted while many families were left behind. 

Strada, the national chair of 9/11 Families United, said it appears the Biden administration was pressuring prosecutors to make the plea deal.

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"They're the ones that want this off of their plate. It's an election year," she told Fox News Digital. "They (terrorists) committed this heinous crime against the United States. They should have faced the charges, faced the trial and faced the punishment. Since when do the people responsible for murder get to call the shots?"

Some lawmakers have also heavily criticized the Biden administration for the plea deals, which spared the three 9/11 plotters the death penalty.

Defense lawyers have requested the men receive life sentences in exchange for the guilty pleas, according to letters from the federal government received by relatives of some of the nearly 3,000 people killed outright on the morning of Sept. 11, the Associated Press reported. 

In a Wednesday letter to the families of the 9/11 victims, the Office of Prosecutor for Military Commissions, which is handling the cases, said the decision to enter into plea deals "was not reached lightly; however, it is our collective, reasoned, and good-faith judgment that this resolution is the best path to finality and justice in this case."

In exchange for pleading guilty to the deaths of 2,976 people, the defendants have agreed to respond to questions from the families of the victims regarding their roles in the attacks and their reasons for participating. The loved ones have until Sept. 14 to submit their inquiries, according to the letter.

FDNY UNION SLAMS 9/11 PLEA DEAL: ‘WE ARE DISGUSTED AND DISAPPOINTED’

Strada also raised concerns about letting the defendants stay in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, instead of transferring them to a maximum-security prison in the U.S.

"They get to exercise. They get to walk outside. They can watch movies. They pick their menu," she said. "They live a very good life in Guantanamo Bay. They get their prayers and their rugs, everything they want. Tom Strada is deeply missed by his three children who were ages 7, 4 and 4 days old when he died," Strada said.

"Nobody is ever the same after a horrific terrorist attack," she said. "Terrorism does exactly what it's meant to do: It terrorizes you to your core. That's what they inflicted on us, a lifetime of pain and suffering."

In September 2023, President Biden rejected a plea deal that would have excused the 9/11 architects and co-conspirators from potentially facing the death penalty. 

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The conditions the prisoners wanted the DOD to accept included a guarantee they wouldn't serve their sentences in solitary confinement and that they would be allowed to eat and pray with other prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. They also wanted a civilian-run program to treat brain disorders, sleep disorders and gastrointestinal damage they say the CIA caused during interrogations prior to being transferred to Guantanamo Bay in 2006, according to a New York Times report at the time. 

9/11 Families United was in court in NYC on Wednesday. They have sued Saudi Arabia over its complicity in the attacks.

The attacks killed nearly 3,000 people in the worst terror attack on U.S. soil in American history.