Wll..some progress in our lil concentration camp in Cuba--an actual sentencing~
A military jury imposed a sentence of 26 years Friday on a former Maryland man who admitted joining al-Qaida and 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 and 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 and graduated from high school near Baltimore, earlier pleaded guilty to war crimes charges that included conspiracy and 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.
© Provided by Associated Press This 2018 photo provided by the Center for Constitutional Rights shows Majid Khan.
He apologized for his actions, which included planning al-Qaida attacks in the U.S. after 9/11 and 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 eight 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 and heard a two-hour statement from the prisoner describing his brutal CIA interrogation and captivity in the three years before he came to Guantanamo.
A military jury imposed a sentence of 26 years Friday on a former Maryland man who admitted joining al-Qaida and 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 and 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 and graduated from high school near Baltimore, earlier pleaded guilty to war crimes charges that included conspiracy and 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 and 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 eight 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 and heard a two-hour statement from the prisoner describing his brutal CIA interrogation and captivity in the three years before he came to Guantanamo.
