Al-Qaida suspect transferred from US jail to Saudi Arabia

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. army officers stated Wednesday they’d returned a suspected al-Qaida operative lengthy held on the army jail at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to his house nation, Saudi Arabia.

Ghassan al Sharbi’s switch was the most recent geared toward emptying the Guantanamo army jail of these detainees who’ve both by no means been charged or have completed their sentences following the U.S. army’s international roundup of extremist suspects after the Sept. 11, 2001, assaults on the USA.

U.S. officers through the years depicted al Sharbi as a loyal al-Qaida supporter and collaborator. Al Sharbi featured in a now well-known memo by a Phoenix FBI agent — little heeded on the time — who accurately warned months earlier than the 9/11 assaults that Center Jap college students gave the impression to be taking flying classes for the aim of assaults involving civil aviation.

The U.S. says al Sharbi fled to Pakistan after the Sept. 11 assaults for coaching in bomb-making. He was arrested there the following 12 months, allegedly tortured in custody, and despatched to Guantanamo.

U.S. army efforts to convict al Sharbi have been pissed off as court docket rulings and congressional directives developed within the face of challenges to the army tribunal’s authorized authority to strive the Guantanamo detainees.

A overview board final 12 months discovered that al Sharbi was now not sufficient of a menace to the U.S. to be held in army detention. It advisable he be transferred out of Guantanamo topic to “a complete set of safety measures together with monitoring, journey restrictions and continued info sharing.”

Saudi Arabia — the nation from which a lot of the 9/11 hijackers got here — lengthy has had amenities for detaining and rehabilitating extremists.

Al Sharbi turns into at the very least the fourth Guantanamo detainee launched and despatched to a different nation thus far this 12 months. Guantanamo held about 600 prisoners at its peak in 2003. With al Sharbi’s switch, it holds 31, together with 17 others thought of eligible for switch if a steady nation might be discovered to just accept them.