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.
