BREAKING: Biden administration transfers Guantanamo detainee to Belize

NBCNews.com:

The Biden administration transferred a detainee from the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on Thursday and is preparing to transfer at least two more in the coming weeks, according to two senior U.S. officials and a former senior administration official.

Majid Khan left Guantanamo early Thursday and arrived in Belize several hours later, the officials said. He is the first detainee to be resettled by the Biden administration and one of the few to be sent to a location in the Western Hemisphere.

“I have been given a second chance in life and I intend to make the most of it,” said Khan in a statement issued through his legal team. “I deeply regret the things that I did many years ago, and I have taken responsibility and tried to make up for them. I continue to ask for forgiveness from God and those I have hurt. I am truly sorry. The world has changed a lot in 20 years, and I have changed a lot as well. I promise all of you, especially the people of Belize, that I will be a productive, law-abiding member of society. Thank you for believing in me, and I will not let you down. My actions will speak louder than my words.”

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A Fox News report states:

Majid Khan was sentenced by a U.S. military jury in October 2021 to serve 26 years in prison, starting from the time he first pleaded guilty to war crimes Feb. 28, 2012.

Khan pleaded guilty to delivering $50,000 from Pakistan to an al Qaeda affiliate that used the funds to blow up a Marriott hotel in Indonesia in 2003 and kill an estimated 12 people.

Guantanamo Bay detainee Majid Khan resettled to Belize https://t.co/Ysa3D2g22S #FoxNews

— Greg Terrell (@greg_terrell) February 2, 2023

NBC News explains that Khan was a Pakistani citizen, who had been granted asylum while attending high school near Baltimore in 1998.

But in 2002, he went back to Pakistan, joined Al Qaeda, and “became a direct subordinate to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, often known as KSM, Al Qaeda’s senior operational planner and the principal architect of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.”

Khan was given the job of delivery money and providing transportation to a senior Al Qaeda official who carried out the deadly attack on the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia in August 2003.

U.S. prosecutors said KSM had planned to use Khan to attack U.S. gas stations and water reservoirs.

Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. came to Khan’s rescue after he was arrested in March 2023 and interrogated by the CIA, claiming he was subjected to “torture.”   He was sent to Guantanamo Bay by then-President George W. Bush in September 2006.

NBC News wrote, “In 2012, Khan pled guilty to terrorism-related charges and was sentenced to 10 years detention. That sentence ended March 1, 2022. Khan still has family in the U.S., but federal law does not allow Guantanamo detainees to be resettled in the U.S.”

The report states that the Biden administration has been trying for months to find a country who would take Khan.  “In the end, Secretary of State Antony Blinken was personally involved in negotiating the deal with Belize, according to two U.S. officials,” NBC wrote.

The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) posted a photo of Khan, 42, all dressed up, along with the following statement in a series of Twitter posts:

“I feel like I am reborn. I have reentered the world. I am a free man. I am beginning a new life in a new country and a new culture. It’s all new to me, and I have a lot to learn.” – Our client Majid Khan in a statement

Today, more than 16 years after he was brought to Guantánamo Bay and almost a year after he completed a military commission sentence there, pursuant to a plea and cooperation agreement with U.S. authorities, Majid Khan was transferred to Belize.

Today, more than 16 years after he was brought to Guantánamo Bay and almost a year after he completed a military commission sentence there, pursuant to a plea and cooperation agreement with U.S. authorities, Majid Khan was transferred to Belize.

— The CCR (@theCCR) February 2, 2023

He is the first of the prisoners transferred from secret CIA detention to Guantánamo in September 2006 to be released, and the first third-country resettlement by the Biden administration.

We are so proud of Majid. He not only survived but persevered within a system designed to break him, and he never stopped working toward his future.

We are so proud of Majid. He not only survived but persevered within a system designed to break him, and he never stopped working toward his future.

— The CCR (@theCCR) February 2, 2023

Today, more than 16 years after he was brought to Guantánamo Bay and almost a year after he completed a military commission sentence there, pursuant to a plea and cooperation agreement with U.S. authorities, Majid Khan was transferred to Belize. pic.twitter.com/fcvlvmPl60

— The CCR (@theCCR) February 2, 2023

Belize’s decision to resettle Majid Khan represents an important humanitarian gesture.

Belize’s strong commitment to human rights is a credit to its people. pic.twitter.com/9EJ0ecnzl0

— Brian A. Nichols (@WHAAsstSecty) February 2, 2023

BREAKING: The Biden administration transferred a detainee from the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay and is preparing to transfer at least two more in the coming weeks, according to two senior U.S. officials and a former senior administration official. https://t.co/1vUltNrKcb

— NBC News (@NBCNews) February 2, 2023

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