Guantanamo Bay prisoner released in surprise Trump U-turn
Confessed al-Qaeda member Ahmed al-Darbi has been sent to Saudi Arabia, where he may remain for the rest of his 13-year sentence
The Trump administration has made its first major move related to inmates in the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, surprising observers by doing the opposite of the president’s proclaimed intention: instead of bringing in new detainees it has transferred a prisoner from the island to Saudi Arabia.
The unexpected news came in a Pentagon announcement that it had completed the transfer of Ahmed al-Darbi, 43, a confessed al-Qaeda member who pleaded guilty in 2014.
According to McClatchy news service, the prisoner was picked up by a Saudi government plane on Tuesday night and taken to a detention centre in the kingdom where he is likely to remain until he has finished his full 13-year sentence in 2027.
Al-Darbi’s removal reduces the total number of Guantanamo detainees to 40, down from about 780 men who have been held at the controversial site since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan in 2002.
No one should remain at Guantanamo without a trial. There is no justice in that
Trump made much of his intention to restock Guantanamo on the 2016 campaign trail, and was scathingly critical of his predecessor Barack Obama’s failed attempt to close the detention centre. In January, Trump signed an executive order telling the Pentagon to keep the prison camp open and produce within 90 days a base policy review.
