An Algerian detainee from Guantanamo military prison, Sufiyan Barhoumi, suspected of having been an instructor in an Al-Qaeda camp, has been repatriated to Algeria, the US Department of Defense announced on Saturday.
“On February 4, 2022, Secretary of Defense [Lloyd] Austin notified Congress of his intention to repatriate Mr. Barhoumi to Algeria and, in conjunction with our Algerian partners, we have completed the requirements for a secure transfer,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
“The United States appreciates the willingness of Algeria and other partners to support persistent American efforts to reduce” the “prison population and ultimately close the Guantanamo prison,” he continued.
This Algerian detainee was initially charged in 2005 with conspiracy related to terrorism. He was accused of having been an instructor in an Al-Qaeda camp, then of having trained two Saudis in the manufacture of remote detonators.
But, as early as 2008, the Pentagon had dropped the charges against him. In 2016, the Guantanamo Board of Review determined that his detention was “no longer necessary” to protect the security of the United States from a “serious threat”.
In all, 37 detainees are still present in Guantanamo, after this repatriation which follows that, at the beginning of March, of a Saudi detainee to his country. Among them, 18 are also eligible for a transfer, seven are eligible for a review of their cases by the Review Board and ten others, including the alleged mastermind of the 2001 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, known as “KSM”, are pending judgment by a military commission.
In January, independent experts mandated by the United Nations called on the United States to close its military prison in Guantanamo, the site of “continuous violations of human rights”.
The US government has pledged to eventually close the infamous detention center, opened after the jihadist attacks of September 11, 2001, as part of the “war on terror”.
