Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, accused of being the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks on the United States, has agreed to plead guilty along with two other accomplices, the Defense Department announced on Wednesday.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin Attash, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al-Hawsawi have been detained at the US Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for years without trial.
In exchange for the prosecution agreeing not to seek the death penalty, the trio has agreed to plead guilty to all the charged offenses, including the murder of the 2,976 people listed in the charge sheet.
Defense lawyers have requested for the men to receive life sentences for the guilty plea, according to letters sent by the federal government received to the relatives of some of the victims, AP News reported.
Pentagon officials declined to immediately disclose the full terms of the plea bargains.
The 9/11 attack is one of the most devastating assaults on US soil.
Al-Qaida elements hijacked four commercial airlines which they flew into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon.
The attack resulted in the death of nearly 3000 people, only comparable to the 1941 Japanese Pearl Harbor bombing that killed 2,403.
The plea deal was initially announced in a letter sent to the families of the victims, CBS News reported.
Prosecutors acknowledge the anticipated “mixed reactions” among the families of the victims.
“The decision to enter into a pre-trial agreement after 12 years of pre-trial litigation was not reached lightly; however, it is our collective, reasoned, and good-faith judgment that this resolution is the best path to finality and justice in this case,” prosecutors wrote in the letter.
The men have been charged with attacking civilians, murder in violation of the laws of war, hijacking and terrorism.