Accused 9/11 mastermind and 2 accomplices agree to plead guilty

Three men accused of plotting 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 Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, next week, according to the Office of Military Commissions.

The 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 accused and their attorneys and the Convening Authority for Military Commissions, Susan Escallier.

Mohammed and several other defendants, including the two others included the plea agreement, were initially charged and arraigned in 2008 in connection with their alleged roles in the attack, the Defense Department said in a statement.

Mohammed was 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 Guantánamo Bay.

Defense lawyers for those held at the military prison in Cuba have criticized the government for years of delays that have stalled their cases.

Some lawyers have attributed the delays to the government’s seeking to cover up details of torture of detainees at secret CIA prisons before they were moved to Guantánamo.

Military prosecutors have blamed defense lawyers for the delays, saying in court papers that they have filed a significant number of motions challenging the government’s evidence.

In a statement Wednesday, an official with Amnesty International USA called the agreement “welcome news” that will prompt some accountability for the 9/11 attacks and justice for its victims and survivors.

“We are also pleased that there is finally an outcome for at least some of the accused, who were tortured and then languished in detention without trial for more than two decades,” Daphne Eviatar, director of 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 has sought to quietly close Guantánamo. By last year, the number of people held at the facility was 30, down from the nearly 800 who were there at its peak.