The United States on Wednesday announced the release from the Guantanamo military prison of a Saudi engineer seized over two decades ago as a suspect in the September 11, 2001 Al-Qaeda attacks but never charged.
\nGhassan Al Sharbi, 48, was detained in Faisalabad, Pakistan with an Al-Qaeda associate in March 2002. He was targeted because he had studied at an aeronautical university in Arizona and had attended flight school with two of the Al-Qaeda highjackers in the 9\/11 plot.
\nThe US military had weighed charges against Sharbi and several others but dropped them in 2008.
\nYet it continued to hold him as an enemy combatant in the military prison in the US Navy\u2019s base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and his status remained in limbo \u2014 he was never charged but not approved for release, either.
\nBut in February 2022, the Pentagon\u2019s Periodic Review Board, which deals with Guantanamo release petitions, ruled that the native of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia could be released.
\nIt said he had no leadership or facilitator position in Al-Qaeda, and was compliant in detention \u2014 after he was years earlier viewed as a hostile prisoner.
\nIt also said he had unspecified \u201cphysical and mental health issues\u201d.
\nThe 2022 decision indicated he could enter into Saudi Arabia\u2019s longstanding rehabilitation program for radical jihadists, which seeks to slowly change their viewpoint while ensuring they will be monitored as they return to society.
\nThe review board said in a statement on Wednesday that it recommended Sharbi be transferred to Saudi custody \u201csubject to the implementation of a comprehensive set of security measures including monitoring, travel restrictions and continued information sharing\u201d.
\nWith Sharbi\u2019s release, 31 detainees remain at Guantanamo, down from a peak of nearly 800.
\nOf them, 17 are eligible for transfer and the Pentagon and State Department are seeking countries to accept them.
\nAnother three are eligible for a Periodic Review Board review, while nine are facing charges under military commissions and two have been convicted in such commissions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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