Belize receives prisoner released from US naval base in Guantanamo

Saudi-Pakistani citizen Majid Khan, who was released after 16 years in a military prison at the United States base in Guantanamo, Cuba, without being tried, is rebuilding his life in Belize today.

A US Senate Intelligence Committee report released in 2014 exposed Khan’s mistreatment and accused the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of abusing al Qaeda prisoners far beyond its legal limits and falsifying reports on them.

He endured methods of torture, including being suspended from a beam for hours, being doused with ice water to deprive him of sleep for days, beatings, water torture, forced enemas, sexual assault and starvation, Khan revealed before a military court.

US authorities formally requested our government to consider the possibility of resettling him as a humanitarian act, Belizean Foreign Minister Eamon Courtenay told reporters.

After long negotiations between the parties and a careful analysis, the Belizean Government approved receiving Khan if the White House paid the initial expenses, the minister explained.

Mr. Khan is not in Belize as a detainee. He has served his sentence and he is a free man, Courtenay stressed. He is not a terrorist, he totally recanted, accepted responsibility for his action, asked Allah for forgiveness and “de-radicalized” himself, he expanded.

Courtenay asserted that he, therefore, will be able to travel around the country, study, work, set up a business and make the most of the rest of his life.