US sends home Algerian man held nearly 20 years at Guantanamo Bay

there was just a sense of global outrage over what the U. S. Was doing in Guantanamo very early on. There were reports of attaining detainees being mistreated interrogated in brutal ways. Uh and just the very notion of holding people indefinitely without charge just caused a lot of outrage in the world. There was this really famous photos at the pentagon released right as soon as they landed with these detainees and these orange jumpsuits. You know some of them were blindfolded when they came off the plane. They were kneeling on the ground in these like steel cages outside. And the steel cages were really interesting because it showed just how unprepared the US was to hold hundreds of detainees on this sleepy Navy base in cuba I mean they essentially weren't ready. You know they didn't have anything, they didn't, there was no infrastructure there. They had these wooden huts where they did the interrogation going to talk about. Yeah he said yes The Obama administration made a big effort to close it and just wasn't able to do it. They made a lot of progress. They got close, they reduced the detainee population but they weren't able to close it. And that is essentially where Biden has it. Now can he get you know the ball all the way down the field like he's got 39 more detainees. He's got to figure out what to do with them. So we're only talking about a few people here. The really difficult issue is what do you do with the people who have been charged by military commission and within that? The real question is, what do you do with the five guys who are charged with their role in the September 11 attacks? The main guys, this guy, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, he has described himself as the mastermind of the September 11 attacks at some point, he said he came up with the plan from a to Z. If it ever goes to trial, it will be a jury of military officers who decide his fate. It's a death penalty case. So in theory, these guys could get the death penalty if convicted, will we ever get to that? We don't know. This thing has been dragged on since May 2012. In the pretrial stage, there have been 42 rounds of pretrial hearings. If that prohibition remains outside the pentagon authorization bill. And if they stripped the funding for the detention center, then the by administration will have a pretty straightforward path to closing Guantanamo. Now, that doesn't mean releasing everyone because they're still going to have those people that they want to hold on to that small group of subset of prisoners, Including the suspects in the 9 11 case, that they will have to move to the United States and put on trial

An Algerian man imprisoned at the Guantanamo Bay detention center for nearly 20 years has been released and sent back to his homeland.The Department of Defense announced Saturday that Sufyian Barhoumi was repatriated with assurances from the Algerian government that he would be treated humanely there and that security measures would be imposed to reduce the risk that he could pose a threat in the future.The Pentagon did not provide details about those security measures, which could include restrictions on travel.Barhoumi was captured in Pakistan and taken to the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 2002. The United States eventually determined he was involved with various extremist groups but was not a member of al-Qaida or the Taliban, according to a report by a review board at the prison that approved him for release in 2016.U.S. authorities attempted to prosecute Barhoumi in 2008 but the effort was dropped amid legal challenges to the initial version of the military commission system set up under President George W. Bush.In the final days of Barack Obama's presidency in January 2017, a federal judge in Washington declined to intervene in the Pentagon's decision not to repatriate Barhoumi, whose lawyer said he had expected his client to be released and that the prisoner’s family had begun making preparations for his return, including by buying him a car and a small restaurant for him to run.The Justice Department said then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter rejected the release of Barhoumi on Jan. 12, 2017, “based on a variety of substantive concerns, shared by multiple agencies,” without going into detail.Barhoumi, who lost four fingers in a land mine explosion in Afghanistan, offered to plead guilty to any charges in 2012 in hopes he could receive a fixed sentence and return to his elderly mother, according to his attorney, Shayana Kadidal of the Center for Constitutional Rights.“Our government owes Sufyian and his mother years of their lives back,” Kadidal said. “I’m overjoyed that he will be home with his family, but I will dearly miss his constant good humor and empathy for the suffering of others in the utterly depressing environment of Guantánamo.”The effort to resettle prisoners languished under President Donald Trump. The Biden administration is attempting again to reduce the number of men held at Guantanamo as part of a broader effort to close the facility.Barhoumi's release brings the total held at the U.S. base in Cuba to 37 men, including 18 who have been deemed eligible for repatriation or resettlement in a third country.

WASHINGTON —

An Algerian man imprisoned at the Guantanamo Bay detention center for nearly 20 years has been released and sent back to his homeland.

The Department of Defense announced Saturday that Sufyian Barhoumi was repatriated with assurances from the Algerian government that he would be treated humanely there and that security measures would be imposed to reduce the risk that he could pose a threat in the future.

The Pentagon did not provide details about those security measures, which could include restrictions on travel.

Barhoumi was captured in Pakistan and taken to the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 2002. The United States eventually determined he was involved with various extremist groups but was not a member of al-Qaida or the Taliban, according to a report by a review board at the prison that approved him for release in 2016.

U.S. authorities attempted to prosecute Barhoumi in 2008 but the effort was dropped amid legal challenges to the initial version of the military commission system set up under President George W. Bush.

In the final days of Barack Obama's presidency in January 2017, a federal judge in Washington declined to intervene in the Pentagon's decision not to repatriate Barhoumi, whose lawyer said he had expected his client to be released and that the prisoner’s family had begun making preparations for his return, including by buying him a car and a small restaurant for him to run.

The Justice Department said then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter rejected the release of Barhoumi on Jan. 12, 2017, “based on a variety of substantive concerns, shared by multiple agencies,” without going into detail.

Barhoumi, who lost four fingers in a land mine explosion in Afghanistan, offered to plead guilty to any charges in 2012 in hopes he could receive a fixed sentence and return to his elderly mother, according to his attorney, Shayana Kadidal of the Center for Constitutional Rights.

“Our government owes Sufyian and his mother years of their lives back,” Kadidal said. “I’m overjoyed that he will be home with his family, but I will dearly miss his constant good humor and empathy for the suffering of others in the utterly depressing environment of Guantánamo.”

The effort to resettle prisoners languished under President Donald Trump. The Biden administration is attempting again to reduce the number of men held at Guantanamo as part of a broader effort to close the facility.

Barhoumi's release brings the total held at the U.S. base in Cuba to 37 men, including 18 who have been deemed eligible for repatriation or resettlement in a third country.

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