Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Thursday 3 May 2018

Saudi prisoner transfer from Guantanamo is first under Trump

By BEN FOX stan in 2002-2006. Neither
MIAMI (AP) — A prisoner case has gone to trial.
at the Guantanamo Bay Gen. Mark Martins, the
detention center has been chief prosecutor for the
sent back to his native Sau- war crimes proceedings
di Arabia to serve out the at Guantanamo, said in a
remainder of a 13-year sen- February Defense Depart-
tence, making him the first ment memo that al-Darbi
detainee to leave the U.S. provided "invaluable assis-
base in Cuba since Presi- tance" to the U.S.
dent Donald Trump took "Al-Darbi's testimony in
office. these cases was both un-
The Pentagon announced precedented in its detail
the transfer of Ahmed Mo- regarding al-Qaida opera-
hammed al-Darbi in a brief tions and crucial to gov-
statement Wednesday. He ernment efforts to hold top
had originally been sched- members of that group ac-
uled to return home as part countable for war crimes,"
of a plea deal no later than Martins wrote.
Feb. 20. The agreement to repa-
Al-Darbi pleaded guilty be- triate al-Darbi was made
fore a military commission under President Barack
at the U.S. base in Cuba in Obama, whose adminis-
2014 to charges stemming tration sought to gradually
from an al-Qaida attack on winnow down the prison
a French oil tanker. He is ex- population in hopes of
pected to serve out the rest eventually closing the de-
of his sentence, about nine tention center. Trump re-
years, in a Saudi rehabilita- versed that policy and has
tion program as part of a vowed to continue using
plea deal that included ex- the detention center.
tensive testimony against In a separate statement
others held at Guantana- Wednesday, the Defense
mo His lead defense coun- Department said it had
sel, Ramzi Kassem, said the sent the White House a
transfer was the culmina- proposed set of guidelines
tion of "16 long and painful This undated file photo provided by Ramzi Kassem, an attorney for Mohammed Ahmed Haza for sending prisoners to
al-Darbi, shows al-Darbi from Saudi Arabia holding a photograph of his children, as he sits for a
years in captivity" by the portrait inside the detention center at the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Guantanamo in the future
U.S. at Guantanamo and Associated Press "should that person present
in Afghanistan, with his chil- a continuing, significant
dren growing up without les, deprived of sleep and and fear. I've never been ing to arrange the 2002 threat to the security of the
him and his own father dy- subjected to other forms of a father. I've been here at al-Qaida attack on the United States." A Pentagon
ing. abuse as part of his early in- Guantanamo. I've never French tanker MV Limburg. spokeswoman declined to
"While it may not make him terrogation. held my son." The attack, which killed a provide any details about
whole, my hope is that re- In a statement released by His transfer brings the num- Bulgarian crew member, the new policy.
patriation at least marks the Kassem, who was part of a ber of men held at Guanta- happened after al-Darbi The New York-based Cen-
end of injustice for Ahmed," legal team that included namo to 40, which includes was already in U.S. custody ter for Constitutional Rights,
said Kassem, a law profes- two military officers, al-Dar- five men facing trial by mili- and was cooperating with which has represented
sor at the City University of bi described what he ex- tary commission for their al- authorities, according to many Guantanamo prison-
New York who has repre- pected to be an emotional leged roles planning and court documents. ers over the years, issued a
sented the prisoner since reunion with his family in supporting the Sept. 11, Al-Darbi could have re- statement welcoming the
2008. Saudi Arabia. 2001, terrorist attack and ceived a life sentence but transfer of al-Darbi but criti-
Al-Darbi was captured at "I cannot thank enough another charged with the instead got 13 years in the cizing the administration
the airport in Baku, Azerbai- my wife and our children attack on the USS Cole in plea deal. He provided plan to maintain the de-
jan, in June 2002 and taken for their patience and October 2000. testimony against the de- tention center or perhaps
to the U.S. base in Bagram, their love. They waited six- Al-Darbi, 43, pleaded guilty fendant in the Cole attack even expand it. "It is up to
Afghanistan. He has testi- teen years for my return," to charges that included as well as against a Guan- the courts, and the public,
fied to being kept in soli- he said. "Looking at what conspiracy, attacking civil- tanamo prisoner charged to challenge the Trump ad-
tary confinement, strung lies ahead, I feel a mixture ian objects, terrorism and with overseeing attacks on ministration's ugly Guantá-
up from a door in shack- of excitement, disbelief, aiding the enemy for help- coalition forces in Afghani- namo policy," it said.q