Accused Sept. 11 mastermind open to aiding lawsuit to escape death penalty

Through his lawyers, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, has indicated he is open to being deposed as part of a victims' lawsuit against Saudi Arabia, as long as the United States government does not seek the death penalty against him.

The offer was revealed in court documents filed Friday in New York, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday night. The lawsuit accuses the Saudi government of helping coordinate the attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people at the time and also led to health problems in first responders. Of the 19 hijackers who perpetrated the terrorist attacks, 15 were Saudi citizens. Saudi Arabia has denied being involved.

There are five people in custody who are accused of being part of the 9/11 conspiracy. The plaintiffs' lawyers want to interview three of them at Guantanamo Bay, and Mohammed's attorneys said he won't agree "at the present time" because of the "capital nature of the prosecution," but in the "absence of a potential death sentence much broader cooperation would be possible." Mohammed was captured in Pakistan in 2003, and subjected to waterboarding 183 times. He has been at Guantanamo Bay since 2006.

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