Posted on 02/25/2004 9:54:38 AM PST by LibWhacker
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States turned over a Danish national who was imprisoned at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the government of Denmark, the Pentagon said on Wednesday, and the Danes planned to set him free.
"He's going to Denmark as a free man," said Lene Balleby, a spokeswoman at the Danish Embassy in Washington.
The Pentagon did not give his name, but Danish media have identified him as Slimane Hadj Abderrahmane, imprisoned in February 2001 after being captured in Afghanistan.
The Pentagon said Denmark has provided unspecified assurances that he will not pose a further threat. The United States has released 93 prisoners from Guantanamo but still holds roughly 650 non-U.S. citizens caught in what President Bush calls the global war on terrorism.
The Pentagon said it decided he no longer posed a danger.
"If he was still considered a threat or of intelligence value, he would still be there at Guantanamo," said U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Barbara Burfeind, a Pentagon spokeswoman.
The Pentagon said in a statement that the decision to turn him over to Denmark followed "extensive discussions between our two governments."
"It was based on assurances provided by the government of Denmark that it will accept responsibility for its national and will take appropriate and specific steps to ensure that he will not pose a continued threat to the United States or the international community," the Pentagon said.
"We are satisfied they will do everything possible to ensure that the individual does not engage in terrorist activities."
The transfer of custody took place overnight and the Danes then flew the prisoner out of Cuba bound for home.
Human rights groups have directed harsh criticism at the United States for holding hundreds of prisoners at Guantanamo indefinitely without charges, condemning them to what some critics call a "legal black hole." The United States has began transferring custody of a limited number of prisoners to the countries where they are citizens, and said more are expected.
Of the 93 prisoners who have exited Guantanamo, 88 have been transferred to other countries for release and five have been turned over to other countries for further detention, including four for imprisonment in Saudi Arabia and one to face trial in Spain.
The United States on Tuesday brought charges against Guantanamo prisoners for the first time since opening the prison there more than two years ago, accusing a Yemeni man and a Sudanese man identified as associates of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden of conspiring to commit war crimes. They will be brought to trial before U.S. military tribunals.
Two other prisoners have been assigned U.S. military lawyers, but the rest have no legal representation.
They are not in a "legal black hole" they are prisoners of war, a well established status. Those who have not comitted war crimes will be released at the end of the War on Terrorism, as is customary.
So9
Reuters is really with it, aren't they? We weren't even over there till after September 11th, 2001.
Correcting last name of dead jihadi — Abderrahmane.
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