While most Americans were focused on the Chinese spy balloon last week, The Biden administration quietly released one of the 9/11 terrorist planners from Guantanamo Bay.
Majid Khan, 42, a close personal ally of al Qaeda leader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed responsible for transferring money and transporting other senior terrorists, was moved to Belize, his legal team announced.
“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,” his legal team said in a statement.
Khan is the first 9/11 terrorist detainees to be resettled under the Biden regime.
“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. Mr. Khan and his legal team are deeply grateful to Belize for offering him a chance to begin a new life,” his legal team added.
“I have been given a second chance in life and intend to make the most of it,” said Khan in a statement issued by 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,” Khan added.
“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.”
As The Daily Mail reported:
Wells Dixon, a senior lawyer for the Center for Constitutional Rights, said in a statement: ‘Belize has done an outstanding job to prepare for his resettlement, and their success serves as a model for other countries to accept men who no one thinks should remain at Guantanamo, but who cannot return to their home countries for humanitarian reasons.’
Nearly 12 countries are said to have contacted the Biden administration in an effort to rehouse Khan, NBC News reports, citing two government sources.
A senior State Department official told the outlet that the administration looked at other countries where Khan might be transferred, factoring in locations that have a good relationship with the U.S., have the ability to support him, with any medical or security requirements and have the political willingness to house him.
But after Belize government officials’ asked all the right questions,’ sources say, Secretary of State Antony Blinken became ‘personally involved’ in the negotiations.
He is said to have discussed the matter with the Belizean Prime Minister at a September meeting.
By Thursday, as Khan was released, the Pentagon expressed its gratitude to the country for supporting ‘ongoing U.S. efforts focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately closing the Guantanamo Bay facility.’
Secretary of State Antony Blinken was “personally involved” in negotiating the deal with Belize, according to two U.S. sources.
According to a senior State Department official, the matter was discussed during a meeting with the Belizean prime minister in September.
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