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  • US transfers Guantanamo Bay detainee to Belize | CNN Politics

    US transfers Guantanamo Bay detainee to Belize | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    The US has transferred a Guantanamo Bay detainee who was convicted of terrorism offenses in 2012 to Belize, the Pentagon announced on Thursday.

    Majid Khan, a Pakistani citizen and US resident, who went to high school in Baltimore, was captured in 2003 and was held for more than three years at secret CIA prisons known as “black sites.” He was transferred to the US military prison in Cuba in 2006.

    “Majid Khan pled guilty before a Military Commission in February 2012. Pursuant to the terms of the plea agreement, Khan pledged to cooperate with the U.S. Government and honored his cooperation commitment,” the Pentagon said in a statement. “He was sentenced in 2021 to a term of confinement for over 10 years with credit for the years he spent cooperating with U.S. personnel. He has subsequently completed his sentence.”

    The Biden administration has promised to close the prison which currently holds 34 detainees, 20 of whom are eligible for transfer, according to the Pentagon’s Thursday statement.

    Khan lived in the US from 1996 to early 2002 and was suspected of assisting al Qaeda in planning attacks on the US and elsewhere. Authorities believed he joined al Qaeda after the attacks on September 11, 2001.

    He was accused of working for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who has been called the mastermind behind 9/11, and conspiring with him to blow up underground storage tanks at gas stations in the US; traveling to Pakistan from Baltimore with fraudulently obtained travel documents; traveling to Thailand to give $50,000 of al Qaeda funds to an affiliate group, which was later used to fund a 2003 bombing of the J.W. Marriot Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia; and recording a martyr video and preparing to bomb a mosque where Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was anticipated to be. The plan ultimately failed.

    In 2012, Khan was found guilty of conspiracy, spying, murder in violation of the law of war, attempted murder in violation of the law of war, and providing material for terrorism.

    In 2021 a US military panel asked for clemency in his case, saying in a letter obtained by CNN that the treatment Khan has experienced while in US custody over the past almost two decades was “an affront to American values and concept of justice.”

    “Although designated an ‘alien unprivileged enemy belligerent,’ not technically afforded the rights of US citizens, the complete disregard for the foundational concepts upon which the Constitution was founded is an affront to American values and concepts of justice,” the letter said.

    According to the Defense Department release, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin notified Congress of his intent to transfer Khan to Belize on December 22.

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  • Former Guantanamo detainee Saifullah Paracha repatriated to Pakistan | CNN Politics

    Former Guantanamo detainee Saifullah Paracha repatriated to Pakistan | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Saifullah Paracha, a former detainee at the Guatanamo Bay detention facility, has been repatriated to Pakistan, according to a statement from the Department of Defense.

    Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin previously notified Congress in September of his intent to repatriate Paracha, who had been held in US detention since 2003 for alleged ties to al Qaeda.

    The Defense Department statement said that “the United States appreciates the willingness of Pakistan and other partners to support ongoing U.S. efforts focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately closing the Guantanamo Bay facility.”

    A statement from Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that Paracha had arrived in the country on Saturday, adding that the Foreign Ministry “completed an extensive inter-agency process to facilitate the repatriation of Mr. Paracha.”

    “We are glad that a Pakistani citizen detained abroad is finally reunited with his family,” the statement continued.

    Maya Foa, the director of Reprieve, a prisoner advocacy group working with Paracha, said, “Saifullah is returning to his family as a frail old man, having been taken from them in the prime of his life. That injustice can never be rectified.”

    Paracha, 75, had significant health issues while in US custody. He suffered his third heart attack (his second while in US custody) in June 2020, according to a statement from Reprieve. He was the oldest prisoner at Guantanamo Bay at the time of his release.

    Foa thanked the Biden administration for the decision to release Paracha but pressed the White House to close Guantanamo Bay permanently.

    “The Biden administration deserves some credit for expediting the release of Guantanamo detainees who were never charged with a crime, but the USA’s embrace of indefinite detention without trial has done lasting damage,” Foa said. “We can only begin to repair it when Guantánamo is closed for good.”

    Thirty-five detainees remain at Guantanamo Bay, the Pentagon said in its statement Saturday, adding that, “20 are eligible for transfer; 3 are eligible for a Periodic Review Board; 9 are involved in the military commissions process; and 3 detainees have been convicted in military commissions.”

    This story has been updated with additional reaction.

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  • US transfers alleged al-Qaeda associate from Guantanamo Bay to Algeria | CNN Politics

    US transfers alleged al-Qaeda associate from Guantanamo Bay to Algeria | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    The US transferred an alleged al-Qaeda associate from Guantanamo Bay to Algeria, the Defense Department announced Thursday, part of the Biden administration’s ongoing efforts to close the prison facility.

    Said bin Brahim bin Umran Bakush, a 72-year-old Algerian native who has been held in detention in Guantanamo Bay for 20 years, was sent to Algeria after a review board determined he no longer needed to be held to protect against “a continuing significant threat to the national security of the United States,” the Defense Department said. The transfer included a set of security measures, including monitoring, travel restrictions and continued information sharing.

    The Biden administration has made it a priority to reduce the number of detainees at Guantanamo Bay as part of the ongoing effort to close the prison facility.

    Last month, the US transferred an alleged al-Qaeda bombmaker to his native Saudi Arabia after more than 20 years of detention. Two weeks earlier, the US transferred two brothers accused of running al-Qaeda safehouses to Pakistan.

    The latest transfer brings the number of detainees at Guantanamo Bay down to 30, 16 of whom are eligible for transfer, according to the Defense Department.

    Umran Bakush was a trusted associate of al-Qaeda facilitator Abu Zubaydah and al-Qaeda trainer Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, according to government records. In the late-90s, Umban Bakush attended basic and advanced training in Afghanistan, later serving as an instructor at an extremist camp, the records said.

    He was captured at a safehouse in March 2002, where members were training for future attacks, including US interests, records said. He was transferred to Guantanamo Bay in June 2002.

    But investigators were never able to learn more about what motivated Umran Bakush to allegedly join al-Qaeda and participate in planning terrorist attacks, records said, and he never admitted to involvement in extremist activities. He has consistently denied involvement in terrorist activities and shown little interest or sympathy for al-Qaeda or radical Islamic views, according to government records. He has also not shown a strong interest in being released from prison, but he feared returning to Algeria because he worried authorities there would arrest him.

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