To the editor:

There are three trials presently going on at the Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The USS Cole, The 9/11 Terrorist Attacks, and the Bali Bombings.

I just returned from GTMO on Saturday, Nov.16, after attending four days of the 9/11 Trial with the main defendant, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, being present for all four days. KSM is being tried with Walid bin Attash, Mustafa Al-Hawsawi, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, and Ramzi bin Al-Shibh.

At the moment, Ramzi bin Al-Shib has been declared unfit to stand for trial. The four remaining defendants are being tried under rules of The Military Commission Act passed by congress in 2006 and rewritten in 2009. The five defendants have all signed a manifesto declaring that they carried out these attacks and are sorry they didn’t kill more. I have attended five weeks of pretrial hearings over the last 12 years. At every session we were promised that these defendants would stand trial and be held accountable for their actions. It was during this last week we learned that the Government, representing us, had negotiated a plea deal with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid bin Attash, and Mustafa Al-Hawsawi.

The only thing we were told is that it removes the death penalty from the punishment phase of the trial. The rest of the plea deal remains under seal. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin withdrew the plea deal but the presiding Judge, Col. Matthew McCall has ruled that Austin lacked the authority to withdraw from the deal. The Judge’s decision is currently under appeal but we have been informed that even if the appeal is successful, that under the previously negotiated deal that it would move to trial as a non death penalty case.

Understandably, numerous families are very upset over this deal.

We, as victims of 9/11, want these defendants to be judged by a military court and not some back room deal negotiated for political expediency. We have waited 18 years for justice and we are still waiting.

Kevin Ryan

Cape Coral