US to release al Qaeda operative from Guantanamo Bay

A U.S. official has ended the jail sentence of a former Baltimore resident who confessed to turning into an al Qaeda courier, the Division of Protection introduced Friday.

Majid Khan was sentenced by a U.S. army jury final October to serve 26 years in jail, ranging from the time he first pleaded responsible to warfare crimes Feb. 28, 2012. Khan pleaded responsible to delivering $50,000 from Pakistan to an al Qaeda affiliate that used the funds to explode a Marriott resort in Indonesia in 2003 and kill an estimated 12 folks.

US SENDS HOME SUSPECTED 20TH 9/11 HIJACKER FROM GUANTANAMO

All of that now modifications after Convening Authority for Army Commissions Jeffrey D. Wooden adopted suggestions from a army panel and decreased Khan’s sentence to 10 years, that means his sentence concluded on March 1 and Khan will quickly be launched from Guantanamo Bay.

“Pursuant to a 2021 modification to the unique 2012 pre-trial settlement, the convening authority agreed to scale back the sentence to 11-14 years,” the Division of Protection famous. “Moreover, Mr. Khan obtained one 12 months of credit score off his sentence from a army choose within the case.”

As for the place Khan will find yourself, that query stays unanswered. He’s one in every of 38 detainees presently held at Guantanamo Bay. Underneath present legislation, Guantanamo detainees can’t be taken to america. A lawyer for Khan, J. Wells Dixon, has urged the Biden administration to “switch him promptly to a protected third nation,” in response to The New York Instances.

Flags fly at half-staff at Camp Justice at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba, in honor of the U.S. service members and different victims killed within the terrorist assault in Kabul, Afghanistan,
(AP)

Khan can also be a Pakistani citizen, however his attorneys have concluded that he can’t be despatched there as a result of his life may very well be threatened after his responsible plea made him a U.S. authorities witness.

“There is no such thing as a foundation left to proceed to carry Majid Khan at Guantanamo,” Dixon stated, in response to the Instances. “America should ship him to a protected, third nation the place he may be reunited together with his spouse and his daughter, who he by no means met.”

Final October, Khan provided particulars to army jurors in regards to the remedy he obtained from the CIA, saying on the time, “I believed I used to be going to die.” Khan alleged that he was suspended from the ceiling nude and doused with chilly water so he would keep awake. He additionally described situations of being near dying, telling the jurors that he had his head held underwater to the purpose of near-drowning.

Following the allegations, greater than half of the jurors who heard Khan’s remarks despatched a letter to the convening authority and advised that he obtain clemency.

On this April 17, 2019, photograph, reviewed by U.S. army officers, the management tower is seen by means of the razor wire contained in the Camp VI detention facility in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba.
(AP Photograph/Alex Brandon, File)

The 38 remaining prisoners at Guantanamo now embrace 20 who’ve been permitted for repatriation or resettlement by the evaluate board.

Earlier this week, the Protection Division introduced {that a} Saudi prisoner at Guantanamo Bay detention heart who was suspected of making an attempt to affix the 9/11 hijackers has been despatched again to his residence nation for remedy for psychological sickness.

The Related Press contributed to this text.