A former Owings Mills High School student considered one of the most dangerous detainees at Guantanamo Bay met with his attorney Tuesday ? the first time the U.S. military has provided that right to a “high value” suspect.
Majid Khan, 27, met with attorney Gitanjali Gutierrez, according to Pentagon spokesman, Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon, who said the session was allowed for Khan to challenge his enemy-combatant status. The meeting was the first private attorney visit for any of 15 “high-value” detainees at the military prison and interrogation camp.
His attorneys called the restrictions an infringement on civil rights.
“It?s astonishing. This guy wasn?t allowed to see a lawyer for a year,” said Shayana Kadidal, an attorney with the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents Khan. “This shows how far we?ve come as a country ? people accept this notion that lawyers and judges can be kept out of the process.”
Khan and members of his family were arrested and bound by Pakistani security officials on March 5, 2003 during a visit to Karachi, Pakistan, as they were waking up, according to Khan?s attorneys.
The 1999 Owings Mills High School graduate was accused of being an al-Qaeda operative.
“He was researching plans to blow up gas stations in the Washington, D.C., area, poison a reservoir and assassinate the president of Pakistan,” Gordon said.
But in a letter to federal authorities ? a copy of which was provided to The Examiner by the Center for Constitutional Rights ? Khan?s father, Ali Khan, called those allegations bunk.
“You want to know whether my son is a terrorist? The answer is no,” he wrote. “As I have said before publicly, I cannot accept these allegations against him. If you think that he did something wrong, show me the evidence.”
Khan was held in secret CIA “ghost” prisons, until being transferred to Guantanamo Bay, his attorneys said.
Lawyers said they?re barred from talking about their meeting with Khan Tuesday because of its “top-secret” status.
“Everyone seems to acknowledge he?s been tortured and his lawyers visit him and now they can?t talk about it,” Kadidal said.
Khan immigrated with his family to the United States in 1996 from Pakistan. He settled in the Baltimore area and worked for the state of Maryland.
