Former Baltimore Resident Strikes Deal in Terror Case

A former Baltimore-area resident will serve up to 19 years in prison after pleading guilty in a Guantanamo Bay courtroom to terrorism charges and agreeing to cooperate on future terror investigations.

On Feb. 29, Majid Khan admitted before a military commission that he was involved in a failed plot to kill the former president of Pakistan and that he delivered money used to finance a hotel bombing in Indonesia.

After living near Baltimore from 1998 through 2001, he fled to Pakistan shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and became involved with the terrorist group al-Qaida, according to the plea agreement.

Khan will serve a maximum of 19 years in prison if he cooperates with authorities, but will not be sentenced for another four years. He has been detained by the United States since his capture in 2003 and is being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Under the plea deal, Khan will serve time for murder in violation of the law of war, conspiracy, spying and providing material support for terrorism.

Khan appeared before a judge Wednesday in a courtroom in Guantanamo Bay. Reporters viewed a live closed-circuit broadcast of his arraignment inside a media center at Fort Meade.

“The commission has now established, to the highest standards of proof in our legal system, that Mr. Khan joined with members of al-Qaida in Pakistan to plan and prepare attacks on diverse targets in the United States, Indonesia and elsewhere,” said Brig. Gen. Mark Martins, the lead prosecutor in the case, in a press conference following the arraingment.

The bespectacled Khan was dressed in a dark suit and repeatedly asked the judge for clarification on the specifics of the plea agreement.  

At one point, he told the judge that accepting the plea deal was “a leap of faith.”

After Khan’s sentence is up, he could still be held as an “unprivileged belligerent,” but government officials said no one has ever been detained following the completion of their sentence.

Khan came to the United States illegally as a child, but obtained asylum status through his mother. He resided in the Baltimore area beginning in 1998, graduating from  in 1999.

He continued living in the Baltimore area through 2001 while working as a database administrator in Tysons Corner, VA. The plea agreement claims that on Sept. 11, 2001, he saw smoke rising from the Pentagon from his office. 

In the agreement, Khan acknowledges that one month after those terrorist attacks, he entered Pakistan and was introduced to their alleged architect, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

During the next three months, Khan agreed to be a suicide bomber in a failed attempt to kill the former Pakistani president. He also discussed potential domestic plots, including poisoning water reservoirs and exploding underground gasoline tanks at American gas stations, according to the plea agreement.

Khan was arrested in August 2003, but not before delivering $50,000 to al-Qaida associates who used the funds as part of an attack on the J.W. Marriott hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia. Eleven people died and 80 were hurt in the attack.

Patricia Pond, a former General Electric Co. worker who was injured in the attack, spoke to reporters in Guantanamo and said the plea agreement “seems fair to me.” Her remarks were also broadcast live to other reporters in Fort Meade.

“I don’t feel a need for vengeance against anyone,” said Pond, who acquired HIV following treatments for her injuries. “I don’t have any strong feelings. This was just another part of closure, and to see the process through.”

During his arraignment Wednesday, Khan told the judge that he was not aware that the money he delivered would be used to blow up the hotel. But he did acknowledge being part of a conspiracy involving people who carried it out.  

Khan also told the judge that he never met or communicated with Osama Bin Laden, the purported head of al-Qaida.

Khan’s attorneys said he has expressed remorse for his behavior, even though he has claimed harsh treatment from U.S. officials prior to arriving in Guantanamo Bay.

“His initial concern was not what had happened to him, but ‘What can I do to improve my life?'” said Lt. Col. John Jackson, the lead defense attorney, said at the press conference. “We strongly approached the government about working out some sort of agreement."

Under the plea, Khan is forbidden from revealing classified information, including any information about his detention over the last eight years. He is also prohibited from suing the United States.

“His next step is to cooperate,” Jackson said. “The next four years will be all about joining Team America.”