Report: 9/11 mastermind could escape death penalty with plea deal

The United States government is reportedly negotiating plea deals that could take the death penalty off the table for the five defendants charged with planning and executing the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, and four other Guantánamo Bay detainees including Ramzi Binalshibh, Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, Walid bin Attash, and Ammar al-Baluchi were charged in 2008 with the murder of nearly 3,000 people, terrorism, providing material support to terrorism and plane hijacking, and various other crimes related to the terror attacks.

Prosecutors sought the death penalty for each of the five men, but they have evaded justice for their crimes for decades as their cases have progressed through the military commission system. The cases have been delayed by the defense's request for CIA evidence related to enhanced interrogation techniques, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic.