FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) — A military jury imposed a sentence of 26 years Friday on a former Maryland man who admitted joining Al-Qaeda & has been held at the Guantanamo Bay detention center. But under a plea deal, the man could be released as soon as next year because of his cooperation with U.S. authorities.
The sentencing of Majid Khan is the culmination of the first trial by military commission for one of the 14 so-called high-value detainees who were sent to the U.S. naval base in Cuba in 2006 after being held in a clandestine network of overseas CIA detention facilities & subjected to the harsh interrogation program developed in response to the 9/11 attacks.
Khan, a 41-year-old citizen of Pakistan who came to the U.S. in the 1990s & graduated from high school near Baltimore, earlier pleaded guilty to war crimes charges that included conspiracy & murder for his involvement in al-Qaida plots such as the deadly bombing of the J.W. Marriott hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia, in August 2003.
He apologized for his actions, which included planning al-Qaida attacks in the U.S. after 9/11 & a failed plot to kill former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf. During a two-hour statement to jurors on Thursday, he said: “I did it all, no excuse. And I am very sorry to everyone I have hurt.”
The jury of 8 military officers was required to reach a sentence of 25 to 40 years. Jurors heard of Khan’s extensive cooperation with U.S. authorities following his guilty plea & heard a 2-hour statement from the prisoner describing his brutal CIA interrogation & captivity in the 3 years before he came to Guantanamo.
In addition to the sentence, the jury foreman said 7 of the 8 jurors had drafted a letter to Pentagon legal authorities recommending clemency to the defendant, which is an option under the military commission legal system.
A pretrial agreement means he could be released as early as February, at which point he would be resettled in an as-yet to be determined third country. He cannot return to Pakistan.
Jurors were not told about the pretrial agreement, which requires a Pentagon legal official known as a convening authority to cut his sentence to no more than 11 years because of his cooperation. He would also be given credit for some of the time he has already spent in custody.
It will be up to the Biden administration, which is working to close the detention center that now holds 39 men, to find a country willing to accept Khan for resettlement along with his wife & the daughter who was born after he was captured in Pakistan.
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