The man accused of being the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks and his two co-defendants have agreed to plead guilty, say US officials.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi are expected to enter the pleas at the military commission at Guantanamo Bay as soon as next week.
According to prosecutors quoted by the New York Times (NYT), the three defendants have agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy charges in exchange for a life sentence instead of facing a death penalty trial at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The defendants have been in US custody since 2003.
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Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks which saw suicide attackers hijacking planes and flying them into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon HQ in Washington and crashing one in a Pennsylvania field.
Reports of a deal came through a letter sent to the families of the victims and signed by Rear Adm. Aaron C. Rugh, the chief prosecutor for military commissions, and three lawyers on his team, the NYT reports.
“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,” the letter reads.
It was reported last year that Mohammed, the suspected main conspirator of the worst terror attack in American history, would potentially manage to escape the death penalty thanks to a new plea deal.
Families of the 9/11 victims are yet to get justice over the 2001 attacks due to the prosecution of the defendants being delayed by questions over whether their torture at the hands of the CIA had contaminated the evidence against them.
While it is likely the defendants will appear in person to plead guilty at Guantanamo Bay next week, they are not likely to be sentenced until later next year, Sky’s US partner network, NBC News, reports.
It was Mohammed who presented the idea of such an attack on the US like 9/11 to Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the United States’ 9/11 Commission concluded.
Terry Strada, national chairwoman of a group of families of victims called 9/11 Families United, had been at Manhattan federal court for a hearing on one of many civil lawsuits when she heard news of the plea agreement.
She said many families just wanted to see the men admit guilt.
“For me personally, I wanted to see a trial,” she said. “And they just took away the justice I was expecting, a trial and the punishment.
“They were cowards when they planned the attack. And they’re cowards today.”
Dozens of relatives of those killed have died while awaiting resolution of the case, Ms Strada added.