The U.S. Department of Defense says three men accused of plotting the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks have signed pretrial agreements.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid Mohammed Saleh Mubarak bin Atash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam Al-Hawsawi have been imprisoned for years U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but did not go to trial.
The men will plead guilty in exchange for prosecutors agreeing not to seek the death penalty, according to U.S. news media reports.
Terms of the plea agreement have not been released.
Nearly 3,000 people were killed in al Qaeda attacks in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania, triggering the “war on terror” and the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq.
It was the deadliest attack on U.S. soil since Japan’s 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, which killed 2,400 people.
The deal was reportedly initially announced in a letter from prosecutors to the victims’ families. New York Times.
“In exchange for eliminating the potential penalty of the death penalty, the three defendants have agreed to plead guilty to all crimes with which they were charged, including the 2,976 listed on the murder charge sheet,” the letter from the chief prosecutor said. Rear Admiral Ruger.
The men are accused of a range of crimes, including attacks on civilians, murder in violation of the laws of war, hijacking and terrorism.
They are expected to formally enter their pleas in court as soon as next week, the Times reported.
In September, the Biden administration reportedly rejected the terms of a plea deal with five men held at a U.S. naval base in Cuba, including Mohamed.
The men reportedly sought assurances from the president that they would not be held in solitary confinement and would have access to trauma treatment.
The White House National Security Council said the president’s office was informed of the agreement Wednesday but played no role in plea deal negotiations.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is widely believed to be the mastermind of the attack, which saw hijackers hijack airliners and crash them into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon outside Washington.
A third plane crashed into a Pennsylvania field after passengers fought back.
Mohammad, a US-educated engineer, was arrested in Pakistan along with Khosawi in March 2003.
Prosecutors argue that he told Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden about the idea of hijacking planes and flying them into U.S. buildings and later helped recruit and train some of the hijackers.
He was subjected to “enhanced interrogation techniques” at least 183 times before the U.S. government banned the practice, including “waterboarding” – simulated drowning.
Gen. Ruger wrote in the letter that the decision to accept the agreement “was not made lightly” but was “the best path to justice.”
However, Jim Smith, whose wife was killed in the attack, told the media new york post The families of the victims “have waited 23 years for us to document in court what these animals did to our loved ones”.
“They took away our opportunity,” he said, adding that they deserved the “maximum punishment” for their role.
