Pakistani citizen Majid Khan has told a jury he was raped, beaten and waterboarded by CIA interrogators in the first public account of torture by someone detained after the September 11 attacks.
Seven senior US military officers, who last week sentenced the Guantanamo Bay detainee to 26 years in prison, issued an appeal for clemency in his case, calling his torture by the CIA a “stain” on the US in a letter published on Sunday.
Mr Khan was sentenced at the US naval base in Cuba on October 29, after pleading guilty to helping in Al Qaeda plots in 2002.
But in a handwritten letter first published by The New York Times, seven of the officers on the eight-member sentencing jury denounced his treatment as “a stain on the moral fibre of America”.
The letter was confirmed to AFP as authentic by the military commissions at Guantanamo Bay.
“The panel members listed below recommend clemency in the case of Majid Shoukat Khan,” said the officers, who included six Army and Navy officers and one Marine. They signed the letter with their juror numbers, remaining anonymous.
“Mr Khan committed serious crimes against the US and partner nations. He has pleaded guilty to these crimes and taken responsibility for his actions. Further, he has expressed remorse for the impact [on] the victims and their families,” they wrote.
It is unclear what impact the letter may have, however remarkable the stance taken by all but one of the active duty service members on the jury.
Based on an earlier plea deal – which the jurors were not aware of – Khan stands to be freed as early as next year, after spending 19 years in US custody.
Khan was allowed to tell his story after agreeing not to divulge classified information. He described in a 39-page statement 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 well beyond approved enhanced interrogation techniques,” the letter said.
The abuse was of "no practical value in terms of intelligence", neither did it offer any other tangible benefit to US interests, the writers said.
The letter states that the youthful Khan had been a “vulnerable target for extremist recruiting”, as he was mourning the loss of his mother at the time.
“Now at the age of 41 … he is remorseful and not a threat for future extremism,” the officers said.
Khan, who grew up in Pakistan and moved to the US at the age of 16, attributed his decision to help Al Qaeda to poor judgment.
“I am not the young, impressionable, vulnerable kid I was 20 years ago,” he told the court. “I reject Al Qaeda; I reject terrorism.”
His evidence on torture is supported by the US Senate's own investigation of the CIA's use of torture after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
The National in Davos
We are bringing you the inside story from the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, a gathering of hundreds of world leaders, top executives and billionaires.
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El Zhar (68’)
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The years Ramadan fell in May
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Verona 1 (Verre 19' pen)
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Liverpool 4-0 Barcelona
Liverpool win 4-3 on aggregate
Champions Legaue final: June 1, Madrid
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
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