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The United States has reached a plea agreement with alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two other defendants accused of planning the 2001 terrorist attacks, according to the Defense Department.
The pretrial agreement, reached after 27 months of negotiations, removes the death penalty from 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 Defense Department announced the news in a press release Wednesday evening.
After entering into plea negotiations in March 2022, the three men agreed to plead guilty to all charges, including the murder of the 2,976 people named in the indictment, the families were told.
Mohammed and his co-defendants will plead guilty at a plea hearing that could take place 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 naturally and rightly evoke intense emotion, and we also realize that the decision to enter into a pretrial agreement will elicit mixed reactions from the thousands of family members who have lost loved ones,” prosecutors wrote in the letter. “The decision to enter into a pretrial agreement after 12 years of pretrial litigation was not taken lightly; however, we collectively, reasonedly, and in good faith believe that this resolution is the best path toward finality and justice in this case.”
The plea deal avoids what would have been a lengthy and complicated death penalty trial against Mohammed.
“This is the least bad deal that could ever happen in the real world,” said Peter Bergen, a terrorism expert and national security analyst for CNN who has written extensively about Osama bin Laden.
The government has faced the difficult challenge of moving forward a case that has been stalled since Mohammed’s capture in Pakistan in 2003 over his alleged involvement in terrorist attacks.
“They were still in preliminary hearings,” Bergen told CNN. “It’s better to come to an agreement.”
In 2008, Mohammed was charged with a series of crimes, including conspiracy, murder in violation of the laws of war, attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects, intentional serious bodily injury, destruction of property in violation of the laws of war, terrorism, and providing material support for terrorism. The United States had said it would seek the death penalty against Mohammed.
But the military trial against Mohammed and his alleged accomplices has been delayed for years as the United States has tried to figure out how to handle the issue of torture used against Mohammed and others in secret CIA prisons in the 2000s. That issue has posed a legal challenge for prosecutors over whether evidence obtained under torture will be admissible in court.
The trial was scheduled to begin on January 11, 2021, but delays caused by the resignation of two judges and the coronavirus pandemic pushed the date back further.
The three alleged conspirators will still face a sentencing hearing in which the parties will present evidence to argue for an appropriate sentence other than the death penalty. That sentencing hearing will not take place until next summer, according to the letter sent to the families.
“During the sentencing hearings in this case, a family member may have the opportunity to testify about the impact the September 11 attacks had on you and your loved ones, and to provide a victim impact statement that will be considered by the military jury in determining sentencing,” prosecutors said in the letter.
The letter said prosecutors met with the families to get their input on possible plea deals, as required by law.
As part of the agreement, the defendants agreed to answer written questions from surviving victims and victims’ families about their roles and why they carried out the attacks.
The families now have 45 days to submit questions that the alleged co-conspirators must answer by the end of the year, the letter said. Prosecutors plan to meet in person with the families this fall to discuss plea deals, according to the letter.
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But some families rejected the plea deals Wednesday.
Brett Eagleson, president of 9/11 Justice, an organization that represents 9/11 survivors and victims’ families, said in a statement that the families were “deeply troubled by these plea agreements” and called for more information about Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the attacks.
“While we recognize the decision to avoid the death penalty, our primary concern remains access to these individuals to obtain information. These plea agreements must not perpetuate a system of closed-door agreements, in which crucial information is withheld without giving victims’ families the opportunity to know the full truth.”
“We urge the administration to ensure that these agreements do not close the door to obtaining critical information that could shed light on Saudi Arabia’s role in the 9/11 attacks. Our quest for justice will not waver until the truth is revealed and justice is served for the victims and their families,” Eagleson said.
Terry Strada, national president of 9/11 Families United, said the news came as a blow as she left a Manhattan federal courthouse Wednesday afternoon after a daylong hearing in the families’ ongoing litigation with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Strada expressed concern that the death sentence announcement would overshadow evidence recently uncovered in the families’ fight to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for its alleged role in the terror plot. The kingdom has denied any involvement in the attacks.
“None of the family knew this was coming,” she said. “I’m very suspicious of the timing of this case. This is the most important day in our entire case. The most important day in 23 years of trying to get justice for the murder of our loved ones. And they’re offering these guys a plea deal.”
It is not yet known where Mohammed and his co-defendants will serve their sentences.
The Biden administration has made closing the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba, where the defendants are being held, a priority, and repatriated several detainees who are no longer considered significant threats to national security. But dozens of detainees remain at the facility.
This story has been updated with additional details.
CNN’s Haley Britzky contributed to this report.
