Biden Admin Releases ‘High-Value’ Al Qaeda Terrorist From Gitmo

The Biden administration on Thursday released from Guantánamo Bay a former courier for the al Qaeda terrorist group, two decades after he was arrested for his participation in terrorist plots including a deadly Indonesia bombing.

Majid Khan was released from Guantanamo detention center in Belize approximately one year after his sentence had expired. His release from the Guantánamo detention center, where he was a “high-value” Prisoner was held indefinitely after he failed to find a country that would allow him to be resettled. Washington Post reported.

Karine Jean Pierre, White House press secretary, described Khan’s release Thursday as part the administration’s efforts to free him “deliberate and thorough process, focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population” at Guantánamo Bay.

Khan was born in Saudi Arabia and lived in Maryland before moving to Pakistan. Khan dealt with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who orchestrated the 9/11 attacks, and participated in the logistics of terrorist plots—couriering $50,000 to terrorists who killed 12 in a 2003 hotel bombing in Indonesia, the Post reported. In 2003, he was arrested in Pakistan.

Khan expressed regret for his participation terrorist plots. His lawyers released a statement. “I have been given a second chance in life and I intend to make the most of it.”

The October Biden administration Released another Guantánamo prisoner, Saifullah Paracha, who was accused of aiding al Qaeda’s financial operations and allegedly met with Osama bin Laden before the 9/11 attacks. The administration in 2021 it was committed to permanently closing the Guantánamo Bay detention center before President Joe Biden leaves office.