Three men accused of planning the 9/11 attacks, including alleged mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, have reached plea agreements in the military commissions process, officials said Wednesday.
Mohammed, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin ‘Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi are scheduled to appear at a hearing at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, next week, according to the Office of Military Commissions.
Details of the plea agreement are unclear, but the defendants are expected to plead guilty to lesser charges that could spare them the death penalty.
They are not likely to be sentenced for months.
The plea agreement was negotiated between the defendants and their attorneys and Military Commissions Convening Authority Susan Escallier.
Mohammed and several other defendants, including the other two included in the plea agreement, were initially charged and indicted in 2008 in connection with their alleged roles in the attack, the Defense Department said in a statement.
Mohammed has been charged with war crimes and murder in connection with the nearly 3,000 people who died in the attacks. He was captured in Pakistan in 2003 and held with other al Qaeda detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
Defense lawyers for detainees in military prison in Cuba criticized the government for years of delays which stalled their cases.
Some lawyers attributed the delays to the government’s attempt to cover up details of the torture of detainees in secret CIA prisons before they were transferred to Guantánamo.
Military prosecutors have blamed defense lawyers for the delays, saying in court documents that they have filed a significant number of motions challenging the government’s evidence.
In a statement released on Wednesday, an Amnesty International US official called the agreement “welcome news” that will bring some accountability for the 9/11 attacks and justice for its victims and survivors.
“We are also pleased that there is finally a solution for at least some of the accused, who were tortured and then languished in detention without trial for more than two decades,” said Daphne Eviatar, director of the group’s Security with Human Rights program.
Eviatar said the announcement should mark the “beginning of the end” for the military prison.
The Biden administration tried to discreetly close Guantánamo. Last year, the number of people detained at the facility was 30lower than the almost 800 that were there at its peak.
This article was originally published in NBCNews. with
