SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Pentagon prosecutors have filed war
crimes charges against a Pakistani detainee at Guantanamo
who graduated from a U.S. high school, accusing him joining al-Qaida and
taking part in a series of post-Sept. 11 terror plots.
Majid Khan, 31, faces up to life in prison if convicted of charges
that include murder, attempted murder and providing material support for
terrorism. The charges were submitted Tuesday but a Pentagon legal
official must still review and approve them before the prisoner can be
arraigned before a judge at the U.S. base in Cuba, a process that is
expected to take several months.
Khan lived as a child in the suburbs of Baltimore, graduating from
high school in 1999 and working at gas stations in the area owned by his
family, but he is a citizen of Pakistan. Prosecutors say he joined
al-Qaida on a trip to his homeland, working directly with senior members
of the terrorist organization.
He is accused, among other things, of plotting with Khalid Sheikh
Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attack who is
also held at Guantanamo, to blow up underground fuel tanks in the U.S.
and of volunteering to assassinate then President Pervez Musharraf of
Pakistan.
Khan was captured in March 2003 and held in a clandestine CIA prison,
where his lawyers say he was tortured. He was transferred in September
2006 to Guantanamo, where he was with two of his lawyers, Wells Dixon
and Katya Jestin, when he was served with the charges Monday.
"We are reviewing the charges, and will represent Majid throughout
this process," Dixon and Jestin said in a statement. "Majid is doing
well considering these challenging circumstances."
