Three Men Accused Of Plotting 9/11 Attacks Enter Into Pre-Trial Agreement

Under the agreement, the men will plead guilty in exchange for the prosecution agreeing not to seek the death penalty.

Three of the men who were accused of plotting the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks have entered into a pre-trial agreement, said the US Department of Defence. 

Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin Attash, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al-Hawsawi have been held at the US Navy base Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, for years without going to trial, reported the New York Times. 

Under the agreement, the men will plead guilty in exchange for the prosecution agreeing not to seek the death penalty, the report stated, adding that the terms of the plea deal have not yet been released. 

At least 3,000 people were killed in New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia in the al-Qaeda attacks, which sparked the "War on Terror" and the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq. 

The 9/11 attacks were the deadliest assault on US soil since the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, Hawaii where 2,400 people were killed. 

The deal was first announced to the victims' families in a letter sent by prosecutors. 

“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 offences, including the murder of the 2,976 people listed in the charge sheet,” the letter stated which was signed by Rear Admiral Aaron C Rugh, the chief prosecutor for military commissions and three lawyers on his team. 

According to the letter, the accused could submit their pleas in open court as early as next week. 

The three men have been accused of a litany of charges, including attacking civilians, murder in violation of the laws of war, hijacking and terrorism. 

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is widely considered the architect of the attacks, in which hijackers seized passenger planes and crashed them into the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon outside of Washington. 

A fourth plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania after passengers fought back. 

Mohammas, an engineer educated in the US was captured along with Hawsawi in Pakistan in March 2003. 

The prosecutors had argued that he brought his idea of hijacking and crashing planes into US buildings to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, and later helped recruit and train some of the hijackers.