Three men accused of plotting 9/11 reach plea deal
Three of the men accused of plotting the 11 September, 2001 terrorist attacks have entered into a pre-trial agreement, the US Department of Defence says.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin Attash, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al-Hawsawi have been held at the US Navy base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for years without going to trial.
According to US news outlets, the men will plead guilty in exchange for the prosecution agreeing not to seek the death penalty.
The terms of the plea deal have not yet been released.
Nearly 3,000 people in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania were killed in the al-Qaeda attacks.
They were the deadliest assault on US soil since the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, where 2,400 people were killed.
The deal was first announced in a letter sent by prosecutors to the family of victims, according to The New York Times.
“In exchange for the removal of the death penalty as a possible punishment, these three accused have agreed to plead guilty to all of the charged offenses, including the murder of the 2,976 people listed in the charge sheet,” said the letter from chief prosecutor Rear Admiral Aaron C Rugh.
The men are expected to formally submit their pleas in court as early as next week, the Times reported.
In September, the Biden administration reportedly rejected the terms of a plea deal with five men held at the US Navy base in Cuba.
The men had reportedly sought a guarantee from the president that they would not be kept in solitary confinement and would have access to trauma treatment.
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