US reaches plea deal with alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

WASHINGTON — The U.S. has reached a plea deal with alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two other defendants accused of plotting the 2001 terror attacks, according to the Defense Department.

The pretrial agreement – reached after 27 months of negotiations – takes the death penalty off the table for Mohammed, Walid Bin 'Attash, and Mustafa al Hawsawi, prosecutors said in a letter, obtained by CNN, sent to the families of 9/11 victims and survivors shortly before the Department of Defense announced the news in a press release Wednesday evening.

After beginning negotiations in March 2022, the three men agreed to plead guilty to all charges, including the murder of the 2,976 people listed in the charging sheet, the families were told.

Mohammed and his co-defendants will enter guilty pleas at a plea hearing that could come as early as next week, according to the letter.

"We recognize that the status of the case in general, and this news in particular, will understandably and appropriately elicit intense emotion, and we also realize that the decision to enter into a pre-trial agreement will be met with mixed reactions amongst the thousands of family members who lost loved ones," prosecutors wrote in the letter. "The decision to enter into a pre-trial agreement after 12 years of pre-trial litigation was not reached lightly; however, it is our collective, reasoned, and good-faith judgment that this resolution is the best path to finality and justice in this case."

'The least bad deal'

The plea agreement avoids what would have been a long and complicated death penalty trial against Mohammed.

"This is the least bad deal in the real world that would ever happen," said Peter Bergen, a terrorism expert and CNN national security analyst who has written extensively about Osama bin Laden.

The government faced the difficult challenge of advancing a case that had stalled over the course of the two decades since Mohammed's capture in Pakistan in 2003 for his alleged involvement in the terror attacks.

"They were still in pre-trial hearings," Bergen told CNN. "Getting some kind of deal is better."

In 2008, Mohammed was charged with a list of crimes including conspiracy, murder in violation of the law of war, attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, destruction of property in violation of the law of war, and terrorism and material support of terrorism. The US had said it would seek the death penalty for Mohammed.

But the military trial against Mohammed and his alleged co-conspirators was delayed for years as the U.S. tried to determine how to handle the issue of torture used against Mohammed and others at secret CIA prisons in the 2000s. The issue posed a legal problem for prosecutors about whether evidence obtained through torture was admissible in court.

The trial was set to begin on Jan. 11, 2021, but delays brought about by the resignation of two judges and the coronavirus pandemic pushed the date back again.

The three alleged conspirators will still face a sentencing hearing where the parties will present evidence to argue for an appropriate sentence short of the death penalty. That sentencing hearing will not occur before next summer, according to the letter sent to families.

"During the sentencing hearings in this case, there may be an opportunity for a member of your family to testify about the impact the Sept. 11 attacks have had on you and your loved ones, and to provide a victim impact statement that will be considered by the military jury in determining a sentence," prosecutors said in the letter.

The letter notes that prosecutors met with families for feedback about possible plea agreements as is required by law.

As part of the agreement, the defendants agreed to answer written questions from the surviving victims and victims' families about their roles and reasons for conducting the attacks.

The families now have 45 days to submit questions to be answered by the alleged co-conspirators by the end of the year, the letter says. According to the letter, the prosecutors plan to travel to meet with the families in person this fall to discuss the plea agreements.

Families of victims push back

But some families pushed back on the plea agreements Wednesday.

Brett Eagleson, the president of 9/11 Justice, said in a statement that the families are "deeply troubled by these plea deals" and pushed for more information about Saudi Arabia's involvement in the attacks.

"While we acknowledge the decision to avoid the death penalty, our primary concern remains access to these individuals for information. These plea deals should not perpetuate a system of closed-door agreements, where crucial information is hidden without giving the families of the victims the chance to learn the full truth."

"We urge the administration to ensure that these deals do not close the door on obtaining critical information that can shed light on Saudi Arabia's role in the 9/11 attacks," Eagleson said.

Terry Strada, the national chair for 9/11 Families United, said the news came as a gut punch as she stepped out of a Manhattan federal courthouse Wednesday afternoon from a daylong hearing in the families' ongoing litigation with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Strada expressed concern that the plea deal news will overshadow the newly unsealed evidence in the families' fight to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for its purported role in the terror plot. The kingdom has denied any involvement in the attacks.

"No family member knew this was coming," she said. "I'm very suspicious of the timing of it. This is the biggest day in our entire case. Biggest day in 23 years of trying to obtain justice for the murder of our loved ones. And they offer those guys a plea deal."

Contributing: Haley Britzky

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