Three suspected terrorists, including the alleged mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, have just reached a deal with federal prosecutors to avoid a possible death penalty — ending a years-long saga.
Khalid Shaikh Mohammad as well as two of his alleged accomplices: Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarek Bin ‘Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi –have agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy charges in connection with the 2001 attacks… and instead of a lengthy trial with the death penalty… they will simply serve life in prison.
These men have been held at Guantanamo Bay since 2006 (first in secret CIA prisons) and have gone through years of proceedings to face the numerous charges in the deaths of thousands of Americans.
An official military letter announcing the agreement between prosecutors and the three men reads in part: “In exchange for the elimination of the death penalty as a possible punishment, these three defendants have agreed to plead guilty to all crimes charged, including the murder of the 2,976 individuals listed in the indictment.”
One of the key issues in this case is the fact that the suspected terrorists have been tortured over the years at various CIA facilities, something that was a sticking point in their pre-trial proceedings and could have made their future trials somewhat confusing.
Now, prosecutors don’t even have to go down that route: These men will simply remain in prison for the rest of their lives.
If you’re not familiar with KSM… he’s the guy who has long been accused of being the architect of the plane hijacking that occurred on that fateful day; he supposedly masterminded the entire plot back in the 90s and presented it to… Osama bin Laden …and then they trained the terrorists.
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KSM and the other two are expected to enter their guilty pleas in open court next week.