Prosecutors announced on Wednesday that three men implicated in the terrorist attack on 9/11, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed – the self-professed key architect of the 2001 assaults on the Pentagon and World Trade Center – have agreed to enter into plea agreements at the detention centre in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
The Pentagon released a brief statement indicating that pre-trial agreements had been reached with three suspects in connection with the 9/11 case: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin ‘Attash, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al-Hawsawi. The announcement was made by Susan Escallier, the Convening Authority for Military Commissions.
According to The New York Times, the three defendants will admit to charges of conspiracy and accept life sentences, thus avoiding a capital punishment trial. Detained in U.S. custody since 2003, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has been universally perceived as the main instigator behind the horrific attacks.
The judicial process had been plagued with protracted pre-trial procedures over the years. Defence teams contended that the evidence obtained through alleged torture in covert CIA detention facilities was inadmissible in court.
The agreement, therefore, sidesteps a potential drawn-out and complicated trial, as well as the risk of essential confessions being disregarded. The New York Times learned of the agreement via a letter sent by the prosecution to the families of the nearly 3,000 victims who perished in the tragic attacks.
The letter, revealed by the newspaper, stated, “In lieu of the potential death penalty, the three defendants have agreed to plead guilty to all charges, which includes the murder of the 2,976 individuals listed on the indictment.”
The prosecution asserts that Mohammed, an engineer educated in America, originally introduced the concept of using planes as lethal weapons to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. He subsequently aided in the training and direction of the terrorists who executed the devastating attacks on American soil.
Mohammed and Hawsawi were detained together in Pakistan in March 2003. During their interrogation by U.S. officials, they were subjected to torture, with Mohammed undergoing an unprecedented 183 instances of waterboarding, as reported by The Guardian.