Ex-Maryland man who joined al-Qaida sentenced at Guantanamo

By BEN FOX
Associated Press

FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) — A military jury has imposed a sentence of 26 years on a former Maryland man held at the Guantanamo Bay detention center who admitted to joining al-Qaida and cooperated with U.S. authorities. But a plea deal could mean his release as early as next year. The sentencing of Majid Khan is the culmination of the first trial by military commission for one of the 14 so-called high-value detainees who were sent to the U.S. bay in Cuba in 2006 after being held in a clandestine network of overseas CIA detention facilities. In those facilities, they were subjected to a harsh interrogation program developed in response to the 9/11 attacks.