The Defence Department on Wednesday referred criminal charges against a Pakistani accused of assisting in al Qaeda terror plots to a military commission, which is one of the last steps before a trial. The Pakistani, Majid Shoukat Khan, has been held at the US military's prison at Guantanamo since 2006.
The Pentagon accuses him of co-operating in terror plots against the United States and Indonesia under the supervision of alleged September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. He also is accused of trying to assassinate Pakistan's former president. Khan is scheduled to be arraigned at Guantanamo within 30 days.
The 31-year-old lived in the United States from 1996 to 2002 before being detained in his native Pakistan in 2003. He is one of 14 high-value prisoners held under conditions of maximum security at the controversial US military-run prison. The charges say Khan and Mohammed - also being held in Guantanamo - conspired to blow up underground tanks at US gas stations and assassinate Pakistan's then-president Pervez Musharraf in a suicide bombing inside a mosque. Military prosecutors also accuse him of delivering $50,000 in al Qaeda funds to a south-east Asia-based affiliate in Bangkok.
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