A Pakistani held at Guantanamo Bay has reached a plea agreement with US prosecutors that could see him testifying at the trials of accused 9/11 plotters in return for a reduced sentence, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing US officials.
The plea deal with Majid Shoukat Khan, 31, would mark the first with a “high-value” detainee who had been detained by the CIA at a secret prison abroad before being transferred to the US-run detention center in Cuba.
Khan, who had been a legal resident in the United States, was charged with conspiring with al Qaeda to attack the US and Indonesia as well as plotting to assassinate former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf. He has been held at Guantanamo Bay since 2006.
Under the deal with military prosecutors, Khan – who had previously faced a possible life sentence if convicted – could eventually be released from the Guantanamo prison, the Post reported, quoting unnamed officials. A Pentagon spokesman would not confirm the plea agreement, only saying that an arraignment hearing was set for next week on February 29.
“Mr Khan has the right to enter into any legal arrangement he chooses,” said Lieutenant Colonel Todd Breasseale.
Khan’s lawyer, Jonathan Dixon, told AFP, “I cannot confirm or deny it, I have no comment on this case.”
Khan agreed to testify at military commission trials over the next four years, and could then be transferred to Pakistan after that, according to the Post.