Three of the men accused of plotting the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US have entered into a pre-trial agreement, the Department of Defense announced. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin Attash, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al-Hawsawi have been held at the US Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for years without going to trial.
The details of the deal have not been disclosed, but US news outlets report that the men will plead guilty in exchange for the prosecution agreeing not to seek the death penalty. The attacks on 9/11 resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 people in New York, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, making it the deadliest assault on US soil since the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, Hawaii.
The plea deal was first announced in a letter sent by prosecutors to the families of victims, according to The New York Times. The plea before a military court could come as early as next week. The US defense department stated that the specific terms and conditions of the pretrial agreements are not available to the public at this time.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, considered the architect of the attack, was captured in Pakistan in 2003. He was subjected to “enhanced interrogation techniques”, including waterboarding, before the practice was banned by the US government. The trial has been delayed in part due to concerns that the interrogation techniques could have undermined the evidence against the detainees.
In September, the Biden administration reportedly rejected the terms of a plea deal with five men held at Guantanamo Bay, including Mohammed. The White House National Security Council stated that the president’s office had no role in the negotiations. Families of victims expressed disappointment at the new deal, with one individual stating they had waited 23 years for their day in court.
Republicans criticized the Biden administration for striking a deal with the accused, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell calling it “a revolting abdication of the government’s responsibility to defend America and provide justice.”
