Guantánamo: Two Malaysians Convicted of Terrorism Repatriated to Serve Out the Rest of Their Sentences; 18 Men Never Charged Are Still Held
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After 20 intensely irritating months of inaction, the Biden administration is — finally, belatedly — making up for lost time, releasing prisoners from Guantánamo, ending the second longest period in the prisons’s long and sordid history that no prisoners have been freed.
The good news began yesterday, when the Pentagon announced that Mohammed Abdul Malik Bajabu, the prison’s sole Kenyan prisoner, and one of 16 men long approved for release by high-level US government review processes, had been repatriated, as I reported here. Bajabu arrived at Guantánamo nearly 18 years ago, in March 2007, after brief and brutal stays in secret US prisons in Djibouti and at Bagram airbase, and had been held without charge or trial at Guantánamo ever since.
Almost exactly three years ago, in December 2021, he was approved for release by a Periodic Review Board, a parole-type process introduced by President Obama in 2013, but like the 15 other men long approved for release, that decision had not led to any enthusiasm on the part of the authorities to actually free him, in large part because the review processes were and are purely administrative, meaning that no legal mechanism exists to compel the government to release these men if they find it complicated or inconvenient to do so.
Guantánamo’s Sole Kenyan Prisoner Is Freed; 15 Other Men Long Approved for Release Must Now Be Freed Too
Please support my work as a reader-funded journalist! I’m currently trying to raise $2500 (£2000) to support my writing and campaigning on Guantánamo and related issues over the next three months. If you can help, please click on the button below to donate via PayPal. Please also consider taking out a free or paid subscription to my new Substack newsletter.
Wonderful news from Guantánamo, as Mohammed Abdul Malik Bajabu, the prison’s sole Kenyan prisoner, and one of 16 men who had long been approved for release, has been repatriated and reunited with his family, leaving 29 men in total still held at the prison.
The release confirms that, behind the scenes, the Biden administration has taken seriously the scandal of holding 16 men unanimously approved for release by high-level US government review processes — decisions that were taken between two and four years ago, and in three outlying cases, nearly 15 years ago.
Bajabu, with two other men, was approved for release by a Periodic Review Board, a parole-type process established by President Obama in 2013, almost three years ago, on December 27, 2021, but had not been freed in part because the review process is purely administrative, meaning that no legal mechanism exists to compel the government to free any of these men if they cannot be bothered or find it politically inconvenient.
Who's still at Guantánamo?
