30th October, 2015
A Mauritanian man held for 13 years in the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay returned home on Thursday, as Washington pursues efforts to close the facility.
President Barack Obama has pledged to shut down the military prison in Cuba, but faces opposition in Congress and resistance from countries reluctant to take in one-time terror suspects.
In the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott, Ahmed Ould Abdel Aziz’s family, a rights watchdog and the government confirmed he had arrived on Wednesday and saw relatives on Thursday.
“Ahmed Ould Abdel Aziz has been freed and was reunited with his family this morning, thank God,” the Mauritanian communications ministry said in a statement.
The 45-year-old, an alleged Al-Qaeda cell member who later fled to Afghanistan and was accused of fighting there, was captured in June 2002 in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi.
He was first held at the US detention centre at Bagram north of the Afghan capital Kabul, then transferred to Guantanamo in October that year, according to US Defence Department documents published by WikiLeaks.
He is alleged to have sworn an oath of loyalty to Osama bin Laden in 1999, and was accused of fighting in Afghanistan against the US-backed anti-Taliban Northern Alliance. According to his 2008 file, he “possibly” fought against US and coalition forces.
Abdel Aziz told the US military that he had seen bin Laden at the Islamic Institute in Kandahar on three occasions, and had been to the wedding of bin Laden’s son in early 2000.
“While in US custody, detainee has made statements indicating his hatred of Americans and his intention to kill US personnel and retaliate against the Pakistani government for their cooperation with the US in capturing him,” his file states.
Nonetheless, the Guantanamo Review Task Force Board, which was set up to establish which detainees should be released, initially recommended him for transfer back in January 2010.
“The United States is grateful to the government of Mauritania for its willingness to support ongoing US efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
– One Mauritanian left in Gitmo –
A Mauritanian government official speaking on condition of anonymity on Thursday told AFP Abdel Aziz faced no charges in his home country.
The communication ministry also said Mauritania would press on with efforts to secure the release of the last of its citizens at Guantanamo, Mohamedou Ould Slahi, held for 13 years.
Speaking to AFP in Nouakchott on Thursday, Abdel Aziz’s sister Lalla Aicha said that “he has been here since yesterday evening” and “has just been handed over to his parents this very instant”.
The head of the Mauritanian Human Rights Observatory, Abdallahi Ould Beyane, said an American plane had left Abdel Aziz in Nouakchott on Wednesday night.
The Pentagon said 113 detainees remain in the Guantanamo prison, which was opened to hold terror suspects following the September 11, 2001 attacks.
US officials are looking at sites in the United States that could one day house the detainees.
Several venues are under consideration, including the Consolidated Naval Brig in Charleston, South Carolina; Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, and a federal prison in Colorado that is already home to Egypt’s Ramzi Yousef, who bombed the World Trade Center in 1993, and “Unabomber” serial murderer Ted Kaczynski.
The site surveys are all complete, and military officials are compiling a report of recommendations that will eventually go to US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter and the White House.
“These site visits are part of ongoing efforts to fully assess all potential locations and develop estimated costs associated with the closure of the detention facility,” Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Commander Gary Ross said.
“These site visits are informational only. No sites have been selected for holding detainees,” he said.
