National Telescope national telescope newspaper
By Lami Victor, Kaduna
Three men accused of orchestrating the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States have reached a plea deal, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin Attash, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al-Hawsawi have been held at the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for many years without trial.
U.S. news outlets report monitored noted that the men will plead guilty in exchange for prosecutors not seeking the death penalty. The specific terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.
The 2001 attacks, planned by al-Qaeda, resulted in nearly 3,000 deaths in New York, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.
This tragedy led to the “War on Terror” and subsequent invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, marking the deadliest attack on U.S. soil since the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Prosecutors informed the victims’ families of the plea deal in a letter, as reported by The New York Times.
“In exchange for the removal of the death penalty as a possible punishment, these three accused have agreed to plead guilty to all of the charged offenses, including the murder of the 2,976 people listed in the charge sheet,” said Rear Admiral Aaron Rugh, the chief prosecutor.
The men are expected to formally enter their pleas in court soon.
The Biden administration had previously rejected a plea deal with five men, including Mohammad, who sought assurances against solitary confinement and access to trauma treatment.
The White House National Security Council clarified that President Biden’s office was informed of the current deal but was not involved in the negotiations.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, regarded as the mastermind behind the attacks, was captured in Pakistan in 2003.
He proposed the plan to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and helped train the hijackers.
Mohammad was subjected to “enhanced interrogation techniques,” including waterboarding, before such practices were banned by the U.S. government.
Rear Admiral Rugh described the decision to accept the plea deal as a difficult but necessary step towards justice.
However, some victims’ families have expressed frustration. Jim Smith, whose wife died in the attacks, told the New York Post that families had “waited 23 years to have our day in court to put on the record what these animals did to our loved ones.”
He emphasised that the accused should face the “highest penalty” for their roles.
