9/11 suspects reach US plea deal, Pentagon says

The Pentagon said Wednesday that three defendants in a tied to the September 11, 2001 attacks entered a plea deal. 

"The specific terms and conditions of the pretrial agreements are not available to the public at this time," the Pentagon said in a statement.

The New York Times reported that the three agreed to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged plotter of the attacks, was among the three named in the Pentagon statement. 

He and the other two had been held at the Guantanamo Bay prison.

What is the case against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed?

Mohammed and four others had appeared in court in pre-trial hearings for the death penalty.

The defendants were charged with conspiracy, terrorism and the murder of 2,976 people on September 11, 2001, at the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. 

Defense attorneys had argued that interrogations the FBI conducted in 2007 should be ruled inadmissible on the grounds that the defendants had been tortured while in custody.

The Pentagon named Walid Bin 'Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi as the other two in the plea deal. 

Bin Attash was accused of helping Mohammed plan the attacks and sending money to hijackers. 

Al-Hawsari also allegedly assisted the hijackers with travel and handled money transfers.

How have 9/11 survivors and their families reacted?

Terry Strada, the national chair of the 9/11 Families United organization of survivors and family members of those killed in the attacks on September 11, 2001, told DW that members of her group were upset at the reported plea deal and that the accused would not face an open trial. 

"The vast majority of the family members I've been speaking to are very angry, and we feel like justice was denied today in Cuba," she said, adding that Mohammed "will not stand trial and he will not face a punishment by death, which is what was on the table."

Strada called the reported deal a "victory" for the defendants, adding: "These men do not deserve any mercy. The death penalty was the right punishment, and, like I said, it's been taken away from us."

Who is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed?

Mohammed, also known by his initials KSM, is the most notorious as the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks.

The 56-year-old is a Pakistani citizen raised in Kuwait and is believed to have been the first to pitch to al-Qaeda's Osama bin Laden using commercial airlines as missiles to crash them into buildings.

In 1993, he conspired with his nephew to detonate a car bomb in the parking garage beneath the World Trade Center.

Mohammed was captured in Pakistan in 2003 and taken to CIA-operated secret prisons in Afghanistan before he was ultimately transferred to Guantanamo in 2006.

In 2007, he told a closed-door hearing at the base that he was responsible for several attacks, including 9/11 and al-Qaeda bombings in Bali and Kenya.

fb/sms (AFP, Reuters)