Detainee released from Guantanamo and returned to Saudi Arabia

An engineer captured after the attacks of September 11, 2001, but never formally charged, has been released from Guantanamo prison and returned to Saudi Arabia, the United States announced on Wednesday March 8.

Ghassan Abdullah Al-Sharbi, 48, was arrested in Faisalabad, Pakistan, with another al-Qaeda member in March 2002. He had studied aeronautics at a university in Arizona and piloting alongside two of the Al-Qaeda hijackers in connection with the September 11 attacks.

The Pentagon had considered certain charges against Ghassan Abdullah Al-Sharbi but abandoned the idea in 2008, while continuing to hold him as an enemy combatant in the prison of the Guantanamo military base, on the Cuba island. His status remained uncertain until 2022: never charged, but also never considered free until then.

Read also: Guantanamo detainee linked to 9/11 repatriated to Saudi Arabia

Rehabilitation program

In February 2022, a Pentagon commission that handles release requests ruled that the native of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, could be freed, since he did not hold a leadership position within Al-Qaeda and respected detention rules. Years before, however, he had been labeled as a hostile prisoner.

The commission had also declared that he was suffering from “physical and mental problems”, without specifying their nature. The report said he was fit to enter Saudi Arabia’s rehabilitation program for radical jihadists, the aim of which is to slowly change their views while ensuring they remain monitored. in their return to civilian life.

The release of Ghassan Abdullah Al-Sharbi means that 31 detainees remain at Guantanamo. At its peak, the prison had nearly 800. Of those 31, 17 are eligible for transfer, while the Pentagon and the US State Department are looking for countries willing to accept them. Three others are eligible for a review of their situation before the Pentagon commission. There are also five men charged with the September 11 attacks. A total of nine men still detained at Guantanamo are facing charges, and two have been convicted in a military court.

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The World with AFP

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