Members of the jury asked for clemency for detainee raped, beaten and suffocated by the CIA in Guantánamo

Seven US military officers who last week convicted a detainee from the base of Guantánamo to 26 years in prison, they processed an appeal asking for clemency due to the torture he suffered at the hands of the CIA, according to a letter published Sunday.

In what was the first public account of torture by a detainee after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Pakistani Majid Khan told the jury how he was raped, beaten and submerged in water by CIA interrogators.

Khan was sentenced at the US naval base in Cuba on Friday after pleading guilty to aiding in plots of Al Qaeda in 2002.

However, in a handwritten letter first published by The New York Times, seven out of eight of the official sentencing jury members denounced his treatment as “a stain on America’s moral fiber.”

The letter was confirmed to AFP as authentic by the military commissions in the Guantanamo Bay.

“The members of the panel listed below recommend clemency in the case of Majid Shoukat Khan”said the officers, who included six Army and Navy officers and a Marine.

They signed the letter with their jury numbers, remaining anonymous.

“The Lord Khan committed serious crimes against USA and friendly nations. He pleaded guilty to these crimes and took responsibility for his actions. In addition, he has expressed remorse for the impact of the victims and their families “they wrote.

It’s unclear what impact, if any, the letter might have, however laudable the stance taken by all but one of the jury’s active duty members.

According to a previous plea agreement, of which the jurors were not aware, Khan He will be released next year, after spending 19 years in United States custody.

Khan was allowed to tell his story after agreeing not to release classified information.

In a 39 page statement, he described being tortured in Pakistan, Afghanistan and a third country after his capture in Karachi in March 2003.

“Mr. Khan was subjected to physical and psychological abuse far beyond the approved enhanced interrogation techniques,” the letter said. “This abuse had no practical value in terms of intelligence, or any other tangible benefit to the interests of the United States.”

The issuers of the letter said that the young man Khan he had been a “vulnerable target for the recruitment of extremists”, as he was going through the loss of his mother at the time.

“Now, at the age of 41 (…) he is repentant and is not a threat to future extremism.”, the officers assured.

Khan, who grew up in Pakistan and moved to USA At age 16, he attributed his decision to help Al Qaeda to a lack of judgment.

“I am not the young, impressionable and vulnerable child that I was 20 years ago,” he acknowledged to the court. “I reject Al Qaeda, I reject terrorism ”.

His testimony on torture is supported by the United States Senate’s own investigation into the use of torture by the CIA after the attacks of September 11, 2001.

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