Biden quietly releases terrorist to Belize after 16 years in CIA custody in ... trends now
While Americans were focused on a Chinese spy balloon making its way across the country, the Biden administration quietly released an al Qaeda terrorist radicalized by the September 11 attacks from Guantanamo Bay.
The Pentagon announced on Thursday that Majid Khan, 42, was moved to Belize after spending 16 years in CIA custody.
Authorities have maintained he was a close personal ally of al Qaeda leader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed who helped deliver money and transport other senior al Qaeda officials. And under Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's plans, Khan would have attacked US gas stations and water reservoirs.
Khan, the only United States legal resident being held at Guantanamo, now says he has changed as an individual and promises to be a law-abiding citizen in Belize.
His release comes just one week before a United Nations visits the detention center in Cuba, as United States officials work to free two other al Qaeda terrorists.
Majid Khan, 42, was moved to Belize on Thursday after spending 16 years in CIA custody
The Biden administration moved to quietly release him as Americans were focused on a Chinese spy balloon flying across the country. The president is pictured here on Friday
Khan, who graduated from a Maryland high school before joining the terrorist organization, started his new life in Belize on Thursday, after completing his 10-year sentence in March 2022.
Upon his release, Khan said in a statement: 'I have been given a second chance in life and intend to make the most of it.
'I deeply regret the things that I did many years ago, and I have taken responsibility and tried to make up for them,' he continued.
'I continue to ask for forgiveness from God and those that I have hurt. I am truly sorry.'
Khan then noted: 'The world has changed a lot in 20 years and I have changed 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.'
His legal team also thanked the Belize government for 'offering him a chance to begin a new life.'
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 US, 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 US efforts focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately closing the Guantanamo Bay facility.'
Khan started his new life in Belize on Thursday, promising to be a law-abiding citizen
Khan pleaded guilty in 2012 to conspiracy to commit murder, spying and 'providing material support for terrorism'
He was held at the CIA facility in Cuba for 16 years, following his arrest in 2003
Khan has said he was radicalized while living in the United States during the September 11 attacks
Still, American officials maintain that Khan served in al Qaeda directly under the supervision of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM).
He graduated from a high school in suburban Baltimore and was working for a telecommunications contractor that managed the Pentagon phone system at the time of the September 11 attacks, which he said 'radicalized him.'
Khan returned to Pakistan the following year, where, a Defense Department detainee assessment says, he joined al Qaeda and became a direct subordinate of KSM, the terrorist organization's senior operational planner and the principal architect of the September 11 attacks.
According to the documents obtained by NBC News, KSM then tasked Khan with delivering money and transporting other senior al Qaeda officials to carry out a deadly attack on the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2003.
Authorities say KSM then intended to use Khan to attack US gas stations and water reservoirs.
He was arrested in Karachi in March 2003, and taken to CIA black sites where, Khan has said he was extensively tortured.
He told a court in 2021 how he was stripped naked and beaten, and spend long periods of time in chains, either shackled to a wall, crouching 'like a dog', or chained to a beam with his arms above his head.
Khan said after his agreement to cooperate and tell them everything, the torture got even worse.
He said he was intentionally nearly drowned in icy cold water in tubs at two sites - once while a
