The US Department of Defense said on Wednesday that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, one of the most prominent plotters of the September 11 attacks, and two other defendants held at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have agreed to "plead guilty."
The Pentagon did not elaborate on the guilty pleas.
A U.S. spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the pleas included assurances of guilt in exchange for not signing a blanket ban.
The official said the terms of the agreement were not publicly disclosed, but he acknowledged the possibility of a life sentence.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is the most prominent prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay facility, which President George W. Bush created in 2002 to hold foreign suspects in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
The prison’s population peaked at about 800 before shrinking again, and now holds about 30 prisoners.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is accused of plotting to hijack commercial airliners to hit the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon.
The Sept. 11 attacks killed nearly 3,000 people and plunged the United States into what would become a nearly 20-year war in Afghanistan.
His interrogations have long been the subject of scrutiny. The Senate Intelligence Committee’s 2014 report on the CIA’s use of waterboarding and other interrogation techniques said Mohammed was waterboarded at least 183 times.
The three were initially charged jointly and tried on June 5, 2008, and then charged again and tried a second time on May 5, 2012, the Pentagon statement said.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell denounced the plea deals.
“The only thing worse than negotiating with terrorists is negotiating with them after they’ve been captured,” McConnell said in a statement, accusing Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration of “cowardice in the face of terrorism.”
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