Salim Ahmed Hamdan Khan, a Pakistani citizen and former Guantanamo detainee, has been the recipient of a second chance in life after being granted resettlement in Belize following his release from the Gitmo. In 2006, he was transferred to Gitmo from a CIA black site where he had allegedly been subjected to extreme torture techniques such as sleep deprivation, ice water baths and forced rectal feeding.

Khan had first obtained asylum in the United States while attending high school near Baltimore in 1998 before returning to Pakistan in 2002. It is believed that he then joined Al-Qaeda and became a direct subordinate of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), Al-Qaeda’s senior operational planner and the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, at which point KSM tasked him with activities involving transferring money and transporting another senior figure of Al-Qaeda to carry out the 2003 Marriott Hotel terrorist attack in Jakarta.

In March 2003, Khan was arrested in Karachi and taken into CIA custody until his transfer to Guantánamo Bay two years later, where he was one of fourteen “high value detainees” as established by former President George W. Bush. A Senate Intelligence Committee report mentioned by Dianne Feinstein – then chairwoman, now senator for California – asserted that Khan had been subject to torture by the CIA, who denied any such claims.

In 2012, Khan pled guilty to terrorism-related charges and was sentenced to ten years’ detention which ended on March 1st 2022, however federal law does not allow Guantanamo detainees to be resettled within the United States itself. As such, it took strong negotiations between Secretary of State Antony Blinken (who was reported as having played a key role himself) and Belizean Prime Minister John Briceño for an agreement finally to be reached regarding safe resettlement for Khan outside of U.S territory, an agreement which marked both the first detainee release from Guantánamo under the Biden regime as well as the first third-country resettlement under this same administration.

Khan issued a statement expressing his deep gratitude towards Belize alongside contrition for his actions in past years: “I have been given a second chance in life and intend to make the most of it,” he said. “I deeply regret the things that I did many years ago, and I have taken responsibility and tried to make up for them. I continue to ask for forgiveness from God and those I have hurt. I am truly sorry. The world has changed a lot in 20 years, and I have changed a lot as well. I promise all of you, especially the people of Belize, that I will be a productive, law-abiding member of society. Thank you for believing in me, and I will not let you down. My actions will speak louder than my words.”

He further promised that he would prove himself worthy of this chance by becoming a productive member of society through his actions rather than words alone, but not just Belize but also around twelve other countries were contacted by Biden’s team during their search for Khan’s new home, according to two U.S sources who spoke with NBC News about the matter.