A Tunisian citizen who had become one of the longest-held detainees at Guantanamo Bay has been released from the US military complex, the Pentagon announced on Monday night.
Ridah Bin Saleh al-Yazidi was transferred to his home country after being held without charge since the detention center opened in January 2002. The 59-year-old man appeared in one of the detention center’s rooms. most iconic photographsshowing detainees kneeling in the open-air Camp X-Ray compound.
Their release comes amid a flurry of transfers this month, including three more people sent to Kenya and Malaysia. The prison population has decreased marginally during Joe Biden’s presidency, falling from 40 people when he took office at the current 26. More than half are now eligible to transfer.
A leaked military assessment from 2007 indicated that Pakistani authorities captured Yazidi in December 2001 near the Afghan border. US officials claimed he was part of a group fleeing the battle of Tora Bora and alleged links to al Qaeda, although human rights organizations have challenged for a long time the credibility of such claims.
A complex series of diplomatic obstacles kept the Yazidi detained long after his death. authorized for transfer in 2007 under the Bush and Obama administrations. Former State Department official Ian Moss attributed the delay to diplomatic challenges with Tunisia and the Yazidis’ alleged unwillingness to consider alternative countries for resettlement, according to the New York Times.
The facility, built on a U.S. naval base in southeastern Cuba after the “war on terrorism,” has drawn international condemnation throughout its existence since it became a symbol of post-9/11 human rights abuses. of September. His critics have long highlighted concerns about indefinite detention without trial and controversial interrogation methods.
Throughout its 22 years of history, a estimated 780 people have passed through Guantanamo cells. The Pentagon did not offer details about arrangements for Yazidi’s return to Tunisia.