Guantanamo detainee released to Belize after being sued for wrongful imprisonment.

Editor’s Note: This story includes graphic descriptions of torture methods.

The 42-year-old Pakistani who spent nearly half his life in US custody — first in a secret CIA prison where he was tortured and then in a US military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba — has been released after filing a lawsuit against the Biden administration for wrongful deprivation freedom. He was resettled in the small Central American country of Belize.

Majid Khan is the first “high-ranking prisoner” – the government term for prisoners held in the CIA’s so-called “black spots” – released from Guantanamo Bay. He is also the first prisoner to be transferred by the Biden administration to a country other than his country of origin; Khan’s lawyers said he could not be sent safely to Pakistan because he was collaborating with US authorities.

“I deeply regret what I did many years ago and I took responsibility and tried to catch up,” Khan said in a statement. “The world has changed a lot in twenty years, and I have changed a lot too.”

He added: “I have been given a second chance at life and I intend to make the most of it… I promise all of you, especially the people of Belize, that I will be a productive, law-abiding member of society. .”

Khan was an unusual Guantanamo detainee for several reasons. Although he was born in Saudi Arabia and is a Pakistani citizen where he spent part of his childhood, he attended high school in suburban Maryland and speaks fluent English. When he was in his 20s, after the September 11, 2001 attacks, he moved to Pakistan to join al-Qaeda and was captured by US forces in 2003.

He pleaded guilty to war crimes in 2012, one of two people convicted in Guantanamo Bay military history, and served his sentence in March 2022. However, he remained there for almost another year, which gave rise to a lawsuit.

“In what system do you finish your term when you are sentenced by the court and remain in prison? Where is this happening? said one of Khan’s lawyers, Katya Jestin of Jenner & Block, a law firm that has represented him pro bono since 2009. “Certainly not in a democratic society that is governed by a system of laws.”

In total, Khan spent more than three years at a secret CIA base and more than 16 years at Guantanamo Bay.

Khan’s release from Guantanamo was delayed while the US looked for a country that could take him. Last summer, government officials said they were working “urgently” on Khan’s translation, but also said they had contacted eleven countries and had yet to find one that would accept it.

While Khan has a family and support system in Maryland, near Baltimore, a law passed by Congress in 2015 bans Guantanamo detainees from entering the US for any reason, allegedly making it impossible for Khan to return to the state. His lawyers argue that the law should not apply to him because he is a convicted prisoner who has served his time. The matter remains unresolved, “but he plans to build his life in Belize anyway,” Jestin said.

Transfer deals, such as the Khan deal, are delicate: difficult negotiations and the difficulty of finding countries willing to repatriate or resettle Guantanamo Bay prisoners are a major problem, leaving many prisoners who have received permission to be released behind bars. Some of them have been in this limbo for more than a decade.

Since Khan’s release, 34 remain in detention at Guantanamo Bay, out of the approximately 780 who have passed through the prison since 2002. Twenty of the 34 never faced criminal charges and were approved for release by the parole board, but remain incarcerated. while the US is looking for countries to pick them up. While Khan was charged with a crime and stood trial, the rest are considered “perpetual prisoners” and held indefinitely without charge or trial.

Khan had no previous ties to Belize, an English-speaking country of about 400,000, and US officials did not explain why they agreed to take him in. Countries hosting former detainees of Guantanamo must commit themselves to treating them humanely and providing security guarantees.

Belize, where Khan arrived on Thursday, stressed that he is there as a free man on humanitarian grounds, like a migrant or refugee seeking a second chance. Jestin said Khan is learning Spanish, which is also widely spoken in the country. He also wants to find a job and expects his wife and daughter to join him, “so I hope he assimilates easily,” she added.

Khan’s other attorney, Wells Dixon of the Center for Constitutional Rights, has represented him since his arrival in Guantanamo Bay in 2006. prepare for his resettlement, and their success serves as a model for other countries.”


Wells Dixon (left) and Katya Jestin, who have represented Khan for more than a decade, speak to him on the phone shortly after his release. Jestin criticized the U.S. operation at Guantanamo Bay, calling it a “Frankenstein court with Frankenstein rules”.

Matthew Hellman


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Matthew Hellman


Wells Dixon (left) and Katya Jestin, who have represented Khan for more than a decade, speak to him on the phone shortly after his release. Jestin criticized the U.S. operation at Guantanamo Bay, calling it a “Frankenstein court with Frankenstein rules”.

Matthew Hellman

In its announcement of Khan’s transfer, the Department of Defense said, “The United States appreciates the willingness of the Belizean government and other partners to support ongoing U.S. efforts to responsibly reduce the prison population and ultimately close the Guantanamo Bay facility.”

At Khan’s sentencing, a military jury urged him to show leniency after he heard details of the ill-treatment he endured during his capture: he was tortured with water, hung by the wrists when he was naked and hooded, and subjected to forced “rectal feeding” ”, which, according to his lawyers, is equivalent to anal rape, among other abuses.

Judge Military Court Colonel Douglas K. Watkins called Khan’s treatment “shocking” and said it “violated … the universal right not to be tortured under U.S. and international law.”

Jestin, one of Khan’s lawyers, told NPR she was delighted with his release, but spoke out harshly about the US government’s Guantanamo Bay operation.

“I was really skeptical that this would ever happen,” Jestin said, “because nothing in Guantanamo flows in a predictable way based on the established rule of law… It’s kind of a Frankenstein court with Frankenstein rules that really warp what what could be called a democratic criminal justice system.”

The Guantanamo military court and prison have cost US taxpayers more than $6 billion since 2002.

This story has been edited by Meg Anderson.

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