NIGHTMARE: Anna Allison was aboard one of the jets flown into the Twin Towers in a plot orchestrated by Khalid Sheik Mohammed. Now her husband wants to help him.
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The husband of a woman killed on 9/11 went to Guantanamo Bay on a shocking secret mission — to try to save the lives of the al-Qaeda monsters who planned the murder.
Blake Allison — one of 10 relatives of victims to win a lottery for tickets to the arraignment of confessed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four of his evil accomplices — had told people he was making the trip because “I wanted to see the faces of the people accused of murdering my wife.’’
But while there, the 62-year-old wine-company executive held a clandestine meeting with the terrorists’ lawyers, in which he offered to testify against putting their clients to death.
A vocal critic of capital punishment, Allison wants to convince the US government to spare the lives of KSM and his minions even if a military commission convicts them of a slew of death-penalty charges.
“The public needs to know there are family members out there who do not hold the view that these men should be put to death,” Allison told The Post.
“We can’t kill our way to a peaceful tomorrow.”
Allison’s 48-year-old wife, Anna, was a software consultant on her way to visit a client in Los Angeles when her plane, American Airlines Flight 11, was smashed into World Trade Center Tower 1 on Sept. 11, 2001.
In a lengthy conversation from his home in New Hampshire, Allison explained his controversial view — one he admits is not shared by his late wife’s relatives or by the other family members of victims he met at Guantanamo.
“My opposition to the death penalty does not say I don’t want the people who killed my wife and [the other 911 victims] brought to account for their crimes,” he said.
“But for me, opposition to the death penalty is not situational. Just because I was hurt very badly and personally does not, in my mind, give me the go-ahead to take a life.”
He said that “9/11 was a particularly egregious and appalling crime,” but added, “I just think it’s wrong to take a life.”
Allison, who has remarried, is under no illusion that the terrorists have reformed — and would not gladly kill more Americans.
After staring at the fiendish faces of KSM, Ramzi bin al Shibh, Walid bin Attash, Mustafa al-Hawsawi and KSM nephew Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, Allison said he is certain they have “no apparent remorse and would do it again.”
Still, he said, “I’ve been opposed to the death penalty for decades, before my wife was murdered on 9/11.
“I’m still opposed to it.”
He said he spoke to other family members at Guantanamo and came to realize he was alone in his view.
“I know they’re sincere in their beliefs,” he said.
“They want what they perceive as justice for their loved ones. I would never tell anybody in my position what they should feel.”
The defense lawyers were pleased, but probably not terribly surprised to see him.
Allison had previously testified on behalf of 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui — the so-called 20th hijacker — who had faced the death penalty but was sentenced to a life term, which he’s serving in the Supermax prison in Colorado.
Allison said his hourlong meeting with the defense lawyers took place May 4, the day before the terror thugs were arraigned.
He quoted one of the attorneys as telling him, “We want you to understand now that there are probably going to be some things we do that are really going to upset you. But believe me, we are not doing anything with the intention of hurting you.’’
He believes they were alerting him to the “gamesmanship involved in their courtroom tactics.”
He singled out defense attorney Cheryl Borman, who dressed in traditional Muslim garb, leaving only her face uncovered, and who asked that all women in the courtroom be ordered to dress modestly for the sake of the five defendants.
“She looked like the angel of death, this black shrouded figure, as she got up and walked up and back in the courtroom,” Allison recalled.
KSM and his cohorts employed a variety of tactics to turn the proceedings into a circus.
They refused to wear earphones so they could hear an Arabic translation of the hearing. Then they would not respond to questions from the judge or even cooperate with their attorneys.
They shouted out, stood up, bowed down and prayed.
In a particularly sick and tasteless gesture, bin Attash made a paper airplane and interrupted the session by resting it on a microphone.
He later ticked off the judge by tearing off his shirt to show scars he said he suffered in beatings from guards at Gitmo.
All the while, their lawyers questioned the judge’s credentials and the validity of the military commission, and kept bringing up accusations of torture.
But none of that kept Allison from wanting to help.
He said his opposition to execution is rooted in his Episcopalian faith.
“When Martin Luther was being asked to recant by the hierarchy of the Roman church for all his Protestant actions, he said, ‘Here I stand. I can’t do otherwise.’
“That’s the way I feel. First and foremost, I don’t think it’s right to take a life. It’s grounded in my religious faith. The New Testament is very clear about this.”
Allison also said he is not convinced that the military-commission system is a legitimate way of trying accused terrorists.
He said he would have been more comfortable if the men were put on trial in a federal courthouse, as President Obama originally proposed.
“I’m going to try to keep an open mind about this process. I’m very skeptical about this. I know there have been changes to the commission but I’m going to keep an open mind,” he said.
Allison said he also worries whether military prosecutors will carry out a pledge to keep out all evidence obtained through torture.
“Can the prosecutors credibly say that their evidence remains free of taint?” he asked.