The mastermind of the 9/11 attacks and two of his co-conspirators have agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to avoid the death penalty. Mohammed, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi, who have been in U.S. custody since 2003, accepted the deal.
News of the agreement emerged in a letter from military prosecutors to families of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, obtained by The New York Times.
“In exchange for the removal of the death penalty as a possible punishment, these three defendants have agreed to plead guilty to all charges, including the murder of the 2,976 individuals listed in the indictment,” said Rear Adm. Aaron K. Rague, the chief prosecutor for the military commissions, and three lawyers on his staff, in a signed letter.
The agreement avoided a potential 12- to 18-month trial.
Mohammed, a U.S.-trained engineer and self-confessed jihadist, was accused of coming up with the idea to divert planes and crash them into buildings. Prosecutors said he pitched the idea to Osama bin Laden in 1996 and then helped train and direct some of the hijackers.