Yemeni Inmate to Leave Guantanamo

The US justice department has agreed to transfer a Yemeni inmate from America's controversial Guantanamo Bay prison.

The 38-year-old Yemeni doctor has been held at Guantanamo since 2002, a year after he was detained in Afghanistan on suspicion of assisting al-Qaeda.

Some 250 detainees are being held at Guantanamo. In January, US President Barack Obama ordered the prison in Cuba to be closed within a year.

Mr Obama also ordered a review of military trials for terror suspects and a ban on harsh interrogation methods.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/guantanamo/story/976155.html

Posted on Tuesday, 03.31.09

GUANTANAMO BAY

“Obama administration OKs release of Yemeni doctor from Guantánamo
President Barack Obama approved the release of a Yemeni doctor accused of treating al Qaeda members and who met Osama bin Laden.”

BY CAROL ROSENBERG

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba —

SNIPPET: “Ayman Batarfi, 38...”

SNIPPET: “Batarfi is held here as detainee No. 627. Defense Department records indicate he was born in Cairo, Egypt, to a Yemeni father, captured in Afghanistan and sent to the prison camps here in 2002.”

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/025466.php

March 31, 2009

“Latest Gitmo releasee: Al-Qaeda operative accused of taking part in anthrax plot”

SNIPPET: “”U.S. Decides to Release Detainee at Guantánamo,” by William Glaberson for the New York Times, March 31:

The Justice Department announced Monday that the administration had decided to release a detainee at the prison at Guantánamo Bay, a Yemeni doctor who the Bush administration once claimed had taken part in an anthrax program of Al Qaeda.

The government had backed away from the anthrax accusations but had continued to hold the detainee, Dr. Ayman Saeed Abdullah Batarfi, asserting that he had worked for a charity that had terrorist ties and that he had met with Osama bin Laden.”

BLOG:

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/03/yemeni_detainee_at_g.php

“Yemeni detainee at Gitmo to be freed”
By THOMAS JOSCELYN
March 31, 2009 10:25 AM

SNIPPET: “Batarfi is a long-time jihadist. During two administrative review board (ARB) hearings at Guantánamo, Batarfi explained that he first traveled to Afghanistan in 1988. He was only seventeen years old at the time. Batarfi initially said that he participated in two nighttime raids on Soviet outposts, but eventually changed his story, saying that he only participated in one.

In the years that followed the jihad against the Soviets, Batarfi studied in Pakistan and became an orthopedic surgeon. But Batarfi was not simply a medical professional, according to documents created by the US government.

In fact, during his ARB proceedings, Batarfi freely admitted he had a colorful career prior to his detention. Batarfi admitted that he: stayed in known al Qaeda and Taliban guesthouses, worked for a charity that is a designated terrorist front run by al Qaeda, met with the Taliban’s Minister of Health in the summer of 2001, met with and assisted a scientist in charge of al Qaeda’s anthrax program (Batarfi denied knowing that the scientist was working on anthrax at the time), and even met Osama bin Laden twice, including once in the Tora Bora Mountains after the September 11 attacks.

An admitted employee of al Wafa

During his ARB hearings, Batarfi was asked about his ties to al Wafa, an Islamic charity that is a designated terrorist organization. Batarfi admitted that he was an employee of al Wafa and said that he worked for the organization for five months in 2001. (The US government has alleged that he actually worked for al Wafa for 9 months.) Al Wafa is a known front for al Qaeda.”

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