Three men accused of orchestrating the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States have reached a pre-trial agreement, according to the US Department of Defense.
The men, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin Attash, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al-Hawsawi, have been detained at the US Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for years without trial.
While the specific details of the agreement have not been disclosed, US media reports indicate that the men will plead guilty in exchange for the prosecution not seeking the death penalty.
The 9/11 attacks, which claimed nearly 3,000 lives in New York, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, led to the “War on Terror” and subsequent invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. They were the deadliest attacks on US soil since the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.
The plea deal was first revealed in a letter from prosecutors to the families of victims, as reported by The New York Times. The letter suggested that the plea could be entered before a military court as early as next week.
The Department of Defence stated that “the specific terms and conditions of the pretrial agreements are not available to the public at this time.”
The accused face a range of charges, including attacking civilians, murder in violation of the laws of war, hijacking, and terrorism. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, believed to be the mastermind behind the attacks, was captured alongside Hawsawi in Pakistan in March 2003. Prosecutors allege that Mohammed proposed the plan to al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden and subsequently recruited and trained some of the hijackers.
Mohammed was subjected to “enhanced interrogation techniques,” such as waterboarding, which has since been banned by the US government. The prolonged trial process has been partly attributed to concerns that these interrogation methods, considered by many as torture, could compromise the evidence against the detainees.
In September, the Biden administration reportedly rejected a plea deal with five men, including Mohammed, who sought guarantees against solitary confinement and access to trauma treatment. The White House National Security Council stated that the President’s office was informed of the new deal on Wednesday but had not participated in the negotiations.
Jim Smith, whose wife perished in the attacks, expressed disappointment over the plea deal, telling the New York Post that the families of victims had “waited 23 years to have our day in court to put on the record what these animals did to our loved ones.” He argued that the accused should receive the “highest penalty” for their roles.
The deal has also sparked political backlash, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell condemning the agreement as “a revolting abdication of the government’s responsibility to defend America and provide justice.” He criticised the administration, stating, “The only thing worse than negotiating with terrorists is negotiating with them after they are in custody.”
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