Mustafa al-Hawsawi

The man accused of plotting the attacks of Sept. 11 and two of his accomplices have agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy and murder charges in exchange for a life sentence rather than a death-penalty trial at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the Pakistani national characterized as the mastermind behind the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and the Pentagon, was arrested in 2003 and transferred to the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, where he has been held since 2006.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, accused as the main plotter in al-Qaeda's Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has agreed to plead guilty, the Defense Department has said.

He and two accomplices, Walid Bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi, are expected to enter the pleas at the military commission at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as soon as next week.

The United States has reached a plea agreement with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, and two other defendants, the US Department of Defense announced on Wednesday. Mohammed, also known as KSM, was apprehended in Pakistan in 2003 for his alleged role in the terrorist attacks.

Regardless of the outcome of their someday trial, the men accused of plotting the attacks of Sept 11, 2001, can be held forever as prisoners in the war against terrorism in a form of preventive detention, a military prosecutor told the presiding judge on Wednesday.