Plea deal for Pakistani at Guantanamo: report

Pakistan

Plea deal for Pakistani at Guantanamo: report

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The US reportedly has reached plea deal with a Pakistani held at the Navy jail in Guantanamo, Cuba.

23 February,2012 05:29 am

A Pakistani held at Guantanamo Bay has reached a plea agreement with US prosecutors that will require him to testify at the trials of other terror suspects in return for a reduced sentence, The Washington Post reported Wednesday, citing US officials.Majid Shoukat Khan, 31, who has been detained at the US-run prison for terror suspects in southeast Cuba since 2006, faced charges of conspiring with Al-Qaeda for attacks on the United States and Indonesia as well as plotting to assassinate former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf.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.Khans 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.It was possible Khan could be asked to testify in the trials of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the alleged Saudi mastermind of the attack on the USS Cole in October 2000, or in the cases of five other detainees charged with planning the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.