According to media sources, three Sept. 11 suspects have agreed to enter a guilty plea at Guantanamo

According to the New York Times on Wednesday, which cited unnamed Pentagon sources, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the man suspected of planning the Sept. 11 attacks, and two of his collaborators detained at Guantanamo have agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy charges in exchange for a life sentence.

A top Pentagon officer has authorized the deal for the guilty pleas by Mohammed, Walid Bin Attash, and Mustafa al-Hawasawi instead of a death sentence trial, according to the Times.

Since 2003, all three of the men have been detained. Mohammed is an al Qaeda fighter who the United States claims was the main planner of the September 11 attacks on the Pentagon outside of Washington, D.C., and the World Trade Center in New York.

The chief prosecutor, Rear Admiral Aaron Rugh, wrote a letter to the families of the Sept. 11 victims saying, “In exchange for the removal of the death penalty as a possible punishment, these three accused have agreed to plead guilty to all of the charged offenses, including the murder of the 2,976 people listed in the charge sheet,” as reported by the Times.

The Times reported that the letter stated the men might enter their pleas as early as next week in open court.Without revealing the specifics of the agreements, the Defense Department said in a statement on Wednesday that prosecutors had negotiated plea deals with Mohammed, Bin Attash, and al-Hawasawi.