US reaches plea deal with alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

(CNN) — The US has reached a plea deal with alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two other defendants, according to the Defense Department.

Mohammed, often known as KSM, was captured in Pakistan in 2003 for his alleged involvement in the terror attacks.

In 2008, Mohammed was charged with a list of crimes including conspiracy, murder in violation of the law of war, attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, destruction of property in violation of the law of war, and terrorism and material support of terrorism.

The US had said it would seek the death penalty for Mohammed.

Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin ‘Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi have also reached plea agreements, according to the Pentagon.

The men agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy charges in exchange for a life sentence instead of a death penalty, according to The New York Times.

The plea agreement avoids what would have been a long and complicated death penalty trial against Mohammed. But it’s unclear where Mohammed and his codefendants will serve out their life sentences.

“This is the least bad deal in the real world that would ever happen,” said Peter Bergen, a terrorism expert and CNN national security analyst who has written extensively about Osama bin Laden.

The government faced the difficult challenge of advancing a case that had stalled over the course of the two decades since Mohammed’s capture in 2003.

“They were still in pre-trial hearings,” Bergen told CNN. “Getting some kind of deal is better.”

The military trial against Mohammed and his alleged co-conspirators was delayed for years as the US tried to determine how to handle the issue of torture used against Mohammed and others at secret CIA prisons in the 2000s. The issue posed a legal problem for prosecutors about whether evidence obtained through torture was admissible in court.

The trial was set to begin on January 11, 2021, but delays brought about by the resignation of two judges and the coronavirus pandemic pushed the date back again.

The Biden administration has made it a priority to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba where the defendants have been held, repatriating several detainees who were no longer considered significant threats to national security. But dozens of detainees still remain in the facility.

This story has been updated with additional details.

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