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(NBC News) Three men accused of plotting the 9/11 attacks, including alleged mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, have reached plea agreements in the military commissions process, officials said Wednesday.
Mohammed, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin ‘Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi will plead guilty to some charges as early as next week at Guantanamo Bay, the Office of Military Commissions said.
The details of the plea agreement are unclear, but the defendants are expected to plead guilty to lesser charges that could spare them the death penalty. They are not likely to be sentenced until later next year.
The plea agreement was negotiated between the accused and their attorneys and the Convening Authority for Military Commissions, Susan Escallier.
Mohammed and several other defendants, including the two others included the plea agreement, were initially charged and arraigned in 2008 in connection with their alleged role in the attack, the Defense Department said in a statement.
Mohammed was charged with war crimes and murder in connection with the nearly 3,000 people who died in the attacks. He was captured in Pakistan in 2003 and held with other al Qaeda detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
Defense lawyers for those held at the military prison in Cuba have criticized the government for years of delays that have stalled their cases.
Some lawyers have attributed those delays to the government seeking to cover up details of detainees being tortured at secret CIA prisons before they were moved to Guantanamo.
Military prosecutors have blamed defense lawyers for the delays, saying in court papers that they’ve filed a significant number of motions challenging the government’s evidence.
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