LEILA FADEL, HOST:
The case against three of the alleged plotters of the 9/11 attacks has finally reached a conclusion.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The alleged mastermind of the attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, has spent nearly two decades in the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, awaiting trial. Now, he and his two accomplices will plead guilty in exchange for an expected life sentence. By doing that, they'll avoid a death penalty trial. The settlement was announced by the Pentagon last night.
FADEL: NPR's Sacha Pfeiffer, who's been covering the 9/11 case for years, is here with us with the details. Good morning, Sacha.
SACHA PFEIFFER, BYLINE: Good morning, Leila.
FADEL: So tell us more about what this plea deal says.
PFEIFFER: So, Leila, you know that Guantanamo, to the general public, is largely a forgotten place.
FADEL: Yeah.
PFEIFFER: But in Guantanamo circles, this is a really big deal because the 9/11 case has been dragging on for 20 years. It's viewed as increasingly unlikely ever to go to trial, a massive legal morass - billions of dollars spent. So this brings partial closure to something that had been in total gridlock.
So Khalid Sheikh Mohammed - KSM - as well as two codefendants, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi, have said they will plead guilty to all charges against them. That includes conspiracy charges and the murder of nearly 3,000 people. Their exact sentences - the details have not been disclosed yet. But we do know it means no more risk of a death penalty and the likelihood that all three of them will spend the rest of their lives in prison.
FADEL: I mean, it's been 20 years. And why and how did this happen now?
PFEIFFER: The timing is really curious. The background is that settlement talks started a little over two years ago but had stalled because the Biden administration would not agree to some conditions - primarily, no solitary confinement, and the defendants wanted torture rehab. They were tortured by the CIA in these secret overseas black sites, they were called.
There's a thought that maybe now that Biden's a lame-duck president, he might be doing these hard things on his way out the door. But the National Security Council issued a statement saying he had nothing to do with this decision. The Pentagon might have been motivated by the possibility of a Trump presidency because Trump would be very unlikely to agree to plea deals.
Also, the 9/11 case had not been going well for prosecutors. They were getting heavy pushback on trying to introduce evidence gained through torture. And so they might have realized, we're not going to be able to take this to trial. Let's settle. And people have been going back and forth to Cuba on this case for years. They simply might have gotten tired and realized it's time to try another path.
FADEL: Have you heard any reaction from family members of 9/11 victims?
PFEIFFER: Yes. I spoke to some who are just - they're celebrating, essentially.
FADEL: Yeah.
PFEIFFER: They thought a trial would never happen - that this was the only pragmatic way to resolve this. Others are disappointed. They really wanted to try to see the defendants pushed or put to death. They also felt that by going to trial, there might be some secrets we don't yet know that might come out. But they - as a condition of the plea deal, the defendants do have to answer questions from victim family members about why they did what they did and...
FADEL: Oh.
PFEIFFER: ...What their roles were. So that information may come out.
FADEL: And where will they serve their sentences?
PFEIFFER: That is not known. There is a U.S. law that says Guantanamo prisoners cannot enter the United States for any reason, including to go into a supermax prison. That means right now Guantanamo is almost their only option, so they might remain there and die there.
FADEL: What happens to the other 9/11 defendants who have not pleaded guilty?
PFEIFFER: This case originally had five men. Last year, one of them was removed from the case because he was found mentally incompetent. So that - it's unclear how that case will proceed. The final man, whose name is Ammar al-Baluchi - I talked last night with one of his defense attorneys. She said he hasn't agreed to a deal because he wants it to include rehab for torture - medical treatment - and he wants a guarantee that the government cannot use evidence obtained through torture. But she did say they are still continuing settlement discussions.
FADEL: Sacha, you talk about Guantanamo Bay as this forgotten place, but there are still people there. Once these cases are resolved, how many people are left?
PFEIFFER: After that, 30 men left. Some of them are so-called forever prisoners, meaning they're being held without charge, even though they've cleared for release and being held. So those cases still have to be resolved - all those men.
FADEL: That's NPR's Sacha Pfeiffer. Thank you, Sacha.
PFEIFFER: You're welcome, Leila. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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