Three men accused of 9/11 plot reach plea deal

Three of the men charged with plotting the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States have reached pre-trial agreements, the Defense Department said.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al-Hawsawi have been detained at the US Naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for years without trial.

In exchange for the prosecution agreeing not to seek the death penalty, the trio agreed to plead guilty to all charges, including the murders of 2,976 people listed in the indictment.

The attacks in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania sparked the “War on Terror” and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Brett Eagleson, president of 9/11 Justice, an organisation representing 9/11 survivors and relatives of victims, said in a statement to the BBC that families were “very concerned about these plea deals”.

He said the process lacked transparency and called on the government to find out more about Saudi Arabia’s role in the attacks.

Terry Strada, who lost her husband Tom, told the BBC’s Today programme: “It’s heartbreaking to hear today that there’s a plea deal that will see the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay get what they wanted.”

“This is a victory for Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and the other two, this is their victory,” added Ms. Strada, national chairwoman of the 9/11 advocacy group Families United.

The September 11 attacks were the deadliest on U.S. soil since Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in 1941, which killed 2,400 people.

The plea agreement was first announced in a letter prosecutors sent to the victims’ families, according to CBS News, the BBC’s partner in the United States.

The report said the court-martial plea could come as early as next week. The trio will then be sentenced by a panel of military officers.

In the letter, prosecutors said families may have the opportunity to make victim impact statements at the sentencing hearing, which is scheduled for the summer of 2025.

Prosecutors also acknowledged the deal could cause “intense emotions” and “mixed reactions” among thousands of family members who lost loved ones.

“The decision to enter into a pretrial settlement after 12 years of pretrial litigation was not an easy one; however, we, in our common, reasonable, and good faith judgment, believe that this resolution is the best path to achieving finality and justice in this case,” prosecutors wrote in the letter.

In its announcement, the US Department of Defense said “the specific terms and conditions of the pre-trial agreement are not being released to the public at this time.”

The men were charged with a variety of crimes, including attacks on civilians, murder in violation of the laws of war, hijacking and terrorism.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is considered the mastermind of the attacks, in which hijackers took over passenger jets and crashed them into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon outside Washington.

A fourth plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania after passengers fought back.

Mohammed, a US-educated engineer, was arrested along with Hawsawi in Pakistan in March 2003.

Prosecutors argued that he brought the idea of ​​hijacking planes and flying them into U.S. buildings to al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, and then helped recruit and train some of the hijackers.

He was subjected to a number of “enhanced interrogation techniques,” including waterboarding — which simulates drowning — at least 183 times before the practice was banned by the US government.

The trial has been delayed for so long in part because of concerns that brutal interrogation techniques that critics say amount to torture could undermine evidence against detainees.

“This is the least bad deal that could happen in the real world,” national security analyst Peter Bergen told CNN.

In September, the Biden administration reportedly rejected the terms of a plea deal with five men detained at a US Navy base in Cuba, including Mohammed.

The men are said to have asked the president for assurances that they would not be held incommunicado and would receive treatment for their injuries.

The White House National Security Council said the president’s office was informed of the new deal on Wednesday and played no role in the negotiations.

Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudi citizens and their families are suing the kingdom, which denies any involvement.

Republicans have attacked the Biden administration for reaching a deal with the accused.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell condemned the move as “a disgusting abdication of the government’s responsibility to protect America and administer justice.”

“The only thing worse than negotiating with terrorists is negotiating with them after they are already in custody,” he said.