The Biden administration has released Guantánamo Bay detainee Majid Khan after nearly 20 years in custody. In 2021, Khan became the first Guantánamo prisoner to testify in an open court about torture methods used by the CIA at its network of secret “black sites,” where Khan was detained in 2003 to 2006. This is Baher Azmy, legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, speaking to Democracy Now! in 2021.

Baher Azmy: “Majid Khan, to his credit, detailed the systematic, brutal, sadistic torture of U.S. government officials — namely, the CIA — which for nearly 20 years the U.S. government has tried to keep secret.”

Khan’s lawyer said in a statement, “Guantánamo is a national shame, and we hope that today is another step forward towards its ultimate closure. The men languishing in Guantánamo who have been cleared for release must be transferred; indefinite detention is anathema to a just society.”

On Thursday, Majid Khan arrived in Belize, which has agreed to permanently resettle him. His release came as the United Nations announced it’s sending a human rights official to the Guantánamo military prison for the first time ever. The U.S. continues to hold 34 prisoners at Guantánamo. Only 11 of them have been charged in military tribunals.