The Obama administration on Saturday announced that a Saudi detainee who was an admitted al Qaeda member and helped plan the assassination of Afghan warlord Ahmad Shah Massoud would be sent home from the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The release of Muhammed Murdi Issa Al-Zahrani follows Thursday’s announcement that five other detainees — including four Yemenis, the first since 2010 — had been released to Georgia and Slovakia.
The Associated Press reported that he would take part in a Saudi program to rehabilitate militants.
President Obama has vowed to close the prison at Guantanamo, where 142 detainees now remain. Because most of them cannot be prosecuted, that would mean either sending them home, finding third countries to take them or finding another reason to keep holding them.
Republicans in Congress have strongly objected to the recent releases, saying the detainees remain dangerous, especially in light of stepped-up U.S. military action in the Middle East to counter the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
“If just one U.S. soldier loses their life over these transfers, we will have failed in our duty to the American people,” outgoing House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon, R-Calif., said Thursday.
According to the latest report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, 107 of 620 detainees released from Guantanamo, or 17.3 percent, had been confirmed as returning to terrorism as of July 15, and another 77, or 12.4 percent, were suspected of having done so.
Al-Zahrani was captured in May 2002 by Pakistani police at an al Qaeda safe house in Lahore, and handed over to U.S. custody a month later. A July 2008 review of his case found that releasing him would pose a high risk to U.S. security and noted he “has indicated an intention to resume extremist activities if released.”
The review also noted his role in the planning of the Sept. 9, 2001, assassination of Massoud, leader of Afghanistan’s Northern Alliance, which at the time was fighting the ruling Taliban for control of the country. The killing of Massoud was timed to coincide with al Qaeda’s attacks on the United States two days later.
But the Pentagon said in a statement that a new review board composed of representatives from the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Justice, and State; the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence met Oct. 3 and determined that continued detention of al-Zahrani “does not remain necessary to protect against a continuing significant threat to the security of the United States.”
