3/15/2022

“Prosecutors have initiated discussions on a potential plea agreement to resolve the long-stalled case of five men held at the Guantanamo Bay detention center who have been charged with planning and providing assistance for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The discussions … are a significant development in a case that has been mired in pre-trial litigation at the U.S. base in Cuba for nearly a decade ….

The five defendants were arraigned in May 2012 on war crimes charges that include murder, terrorism and hijacking for alleged roles planning and providing financial and logistical help in the plot that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

The trial has bogged down largely over legal issues surrounding what evidence can be used against the men, who were held in clandestine CIA detention facilities and subjected to torture following their capture. It has also been repeatedly stalled by the pandemic and the logistical difficulties of trying five men, all with separate U.S.-based defense teams, on the difficult-to-reach base at the southeastern tip of Cuba.”

– Ben Fox, “Plea Discussions Launched in Stalled 9/11 Case at Guantanamo,” apnews.com, March 15, 2022