U.S. Military Jury Condemns Terrorist’s Torture and Urges Clemency

GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba — Seven elder U.S. subject officers who sentenced a violent to 26 years successful situation past week aft proceeding graphic descriptions of his torture by the C.I.A. wrote a missive calling his attraction “a stain connected the motivation fibre of America.”

The rebuke of the U.S. government’s attraction of Majid Khan, a suburban Baltimore precocious schoolhouse postgraduate turned Qaeda courier, was contained successful a two-page handwritten missive urging the elder Pentagon authoritative overseeing the warfare tribunal to assistance clemency. It was signed by 7 of the 8 members of the sentencing assemblage — six Army and Navy officers and a Marine, utilizing their juror numbers.

The sheet of active-duty officers was brought to Guantánamo Bay past week to perceive grounds and determine a condemnation of 25 to 40 years. Deliberations began aft Mr. Khan spent 2 hours describing successful grisly item the violence that C.I.A. agents and operatives inflicted connected him successful dungeonlike conditions successful prisons successful Pakistan, Afghanistan and a 3rd country, including intersexual maltreatment and mind-numbing isolation, often successful the acheronian portion helium was nude and shackled.

“Mr. Khan was subjected to carnal and intelligence maltreatment good beyond approved enhanced interrogation techniques, alternatively being person to torture performed by the astir abusive regimes successful modern history,” according to the letter, which was obtained by The New York Times.

The sheet besides responded to Mr. Khan’s assertion that aft his seizure successful Pakistan successful March 2003, helium told interrogators everything, but “the much I cooperated, the much I was tortured,” and truthful helium subsequently made up lies to effort to mollify his captors.

“This maltreatment was of nary applicable worth successful presumption of intelligence, oregon immoderate different tangible payment to U.S. interests,” the missive said. “Instead, it is simply a stain connected the motivation fibre of America; the attraction of Mr. Khan successful the hands of U.S. unit should beryllium a root of shame for the U.S. government.”

In his grounds connected Thursday night, Mr. Khan became the archetypal erstwhile captive of the C.I.A.’s alleged achromatic sites to publically picture successful item the unit and cruelty that U.S. agents utilized to extract accusation and to subject suspected terrorists successful the clandestine overseas situation programme that was acceptable up aft the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. In doing so, Mr. Khan besides provided a preview of the benignant of accusation that mightiness look successful the death punishment trial of the 5 men accused of plotting the Sept. 11 attacks, a process that has been bogged down successful pretrial hearings for astir a decennary partially due to the fact that of secrecy surrounding their torture by the C.I.A.

The bureau declined to remark connected the substance of Mr. Khan’s descriptions of the achromatic sites, which prosecutors did not question to rebut. It said lone that its detention and interrogation program, which ran the achromatic sites, ended successful 2009.

Mr. Khan, 41, was held without entree to either the International Red Cross, the authorization entrusted nether the Geneva Conventions to sojourn warfare prisoners, oregon to a lawyer until aft helium was transferred to Guantánamo Bay successful September 2006. He pleaded blameworthy successful February 2012 to coercion crimes, including delivering $50,000 from Al Qaeda to an allied extremist radical successful Southeast Asia, Jemaah Islamiyah, that was utilized to money a deadly bombing of a Marriott hotel successful Jakarta, Indonesia, 5 months aft his capture. Eleven radical were killed, and dozens much were injured.

The timepiece connected his situation condemnation began ticking with his blameworthy plea successful 2012, meaning the panel’s 26-year condemnation would extremity successful 2038.

But Mr. Khan, who has cooperated with the U.S. government, helping national and subject prosecutors physique cases, has a woody that was kept concealed from the assemblage that could extremity his condemnation successful February oregon successful 2025 astatine the latest.

The missive besides condemned the ineligible model that held Mr. Khan without complaint for 9 years and denied him entree to a lawyer for the archetypal 4 and fractional arsenic “complete disregard for the foundational concepts upon which the Constitution was founded” and “an affront to American values and conception of justice.”

Ian C. Moss, a erstwhile Marine who is simply a civilian lawyer connected Mr. Khan’s defence team, called the missive “an bonzer rebuke.”

“Part of what makes the clemency missive truthful almighty is that, fixed the assemblage members’ seniority, it stands to crushed that their subject careers person been impacted successful nonstop and apt idiosyncratic ways by the past 2 decades of war,” helium said.

At nary constituent did the jurors suggest that immoderate of Mr. Khan’s attraction was illegal. Their missive noted that Mr. Khan, who ne'er attained U.S. citizenship, was held arsenic an “alien unprivileged force belligerent,” a presumption that made him eligible for proceedings by subject committee and “not technically afforded the rights of U.S. citizens.”

But, the officers noted, Mr. Khan pleaded guilty, owned his actions and “expressed remorse for the interaction of the victims and their families. Clemency is recommended.”

The assemblage foreman, a Navy captain, said successful tribunal that helium took up a petition by Mr. Khan’s subject defence lawyer, Maj. Michael J. Lyness of the Army, to see drafting a missive recommending clemency. It was addressed to the convening authorization of subject commissions, the elder Pentagon authoritative overseeing the warfare court, a relation that is presently held by Col. Jeffrey D. Wood of the Arkansas National Guard.

Unknown to the jurors, Colonel Wood had reached an agreement with Mr. Khan to measure his practice with the authorities and trim his sentence. In exchange, Mr. Khan and his ineligible squad agreed to driblet their effort to telephone witnesses to attest astir his torture, overmuch of it astir apt classified, arsenic agelong arsenic helium could archer his communicative to the jury.

The jurors were besides sympathetic to Mr. Khan’s relationship of being drawn to extremist Islam successful 2001 astatine property 21, aft the decease of his mother, and being recruited to Al Qaeda aft the Sept. 11 attacks. “A susceptible people for extremist recruiting, helium fell to influences furthering Islamic extremist philosophies, conscionable arsenic galore others person successful caller years,” the missive said. “Now astatine the property of 41 with a girl helium has ne'er seen, helium is remorseful and not a menace for aboriginal extremism.”

The sheet was provided with 9 letters of enactment for Mr. Khan from household members, including his begetter and respective siblings — American citizens who unrecorded successful the United States — arsenic good arsenic his wife, Rabia, and daughter, Manaal, who were calved successful Pakistan and unrecorded there.

Although seldom done, a subject defence lawyer tin inquire a sheet for letters endorsing mercy, specified arsenic a simplification of a sentence, for a work subordinate who is convicted astatine a court-martial. But this was the archetypal clip the petition was made of a sentencing assemblage astatine Guantánamo, wherever accused terrorists are being tried by subject commission.