Good morning from the war court compound at Guantanamo Bay, called Camp Justice, where today the court will be picking a jury -- they call it panel -- of military officers for a formal sentencing hearing of the prisoner Majid Khan. That's the jury box at the top of this picture. 
Unbeknownst to the 20 US military officers who were brought to Gitmo yesterday as a jury pool, this is a formality. Khan pleaded guilty in February 2012, turned government witness and has a reduced sentence deal with the overseer of military commissions. nytimes.com/2021/05/14/us/…
But today and tomorrow we will watch lawyers pick a jury, tell them about Mr. Khan's crimes as an Al Qaeda courier and hear him address the panel. Then, probably tomorrow, the panel will deliberate a for-the-record sentence of 25-40 years from February 2012. (But we know better.)
I'm heading to the court to watch the proceedings from the gallery, will update you later. We expect a rather diverse group of spectators, including two of Mr. Khan's family members, both U.S. citizens, but not his Pakistani wife and child after Southcom balked at them observing.
Good afternoon from lunch recess in the Al Qaeda courier trial at Guantanamo Bay. They still haven't picked a jury. The morning was devoted to working out some of the technicalities of the sentencing hearing, which is taking place today and tomorrow.
Mr. Khan has been coming to court since 2012 and, by my count, this is just his 10th appearance. But this day was different. His father and youngest sister were with us in the gallery, about 50 feet from Majid Khan -- and separated by triple pane glass.
They last saw him at 21 or 22, still a young man. He looks like a middle-aged man now -- a chunky figure in a black suit with a bald spot on the top of his head and a graying goatee. So it took them some time to realize that was their son and brother, not another lawyer.
When we left court the judge had just sworn in the 20 military officers in the jury panel pool -- a mixture of Marines, Air Force, Navy and Army. We will resume with questioning of the pool to winnow them down to a sentencing jury, based on secret questionnaires they filled out.
From the preliminaries:
--Mr. Khan will walk freely to the lectern (no shackles, guards at a distance) to tell the jury his story.
--HIs lawyers preadmitted for the jury 9 letters from Khan's dad, siblings, wife and child, a girl who was born after his capture in March 2003.
--Mr. Khan will walk freely to the lectern (no shackles, guards at a distance) to tell the jury his story.
--HIs lawyers preadmitted for the jury 9 letters from Khan's dad, siblings, wife and child, a girl who was born after his capture in March 2003.
--Jurors will be told that Mr. Khan is forbidden any sentencing credit for his first 9 years of wartime imprisonment by the CIA and U.S. military. They can sentence him to no fewer than 25 years and no more than 40, starting from 2012, when he pleaded guilty, turned informant.
It was a marathon day at the war court today. The hearing ended at 10 p.m. We'll be publishing a full story shortly.
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