The man accused of masterminding the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by al-Qaida has agreed to plead guilty, the Defense Department said Wednesday.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two of his associates are expected to plead guilty before the Military Commission at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba next week.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the plea deal would almost certainly include pleading guilty in exchange for avoiding the death penalty.
The official said the terms of the deal have not been made public, but said there is a possibility it could carry a life sentence.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is the best-known detainee at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, which was established in 2002 by then-President George W. Bush to hold suspected foreign militants after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on United States.
The highest number of detainees in that complex was 800. Today there are 30 prisoners in Guantanamo.
The plea agreement between the United States government and the 9/11 defendants comes more than 16 years after they were prosecuted in connection with the al-Qaida attacks and more than 20 years after the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 persons and after which the US started a war in Afghanistan that continued for two decades.
The families of many of the victims have said they wanted those accused of organizing the attack to formally plead guilty.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell condemned the plea deal.
“The only thing worse than dealing with terrorists is dealing with them after they are in custody,” Senator McConnell said in a statement.
