Pakistani brothers to reunite with family after 20 yrs in Guantanamo

Written By: ANI
| Published on: Feb 25, 2023

ANI Photo | Pakistani brothers to reunite with family after 20 yrs in Guantanamo

Two brothers, who were jailed in the infamous Guantanamo prison camp in the United States without any charges for a period as long as two decades, will finally reunite with their family in Pakistan, Dawn reported.

The US Department of Defence on Friday announced that it has repatriated two Pakistani brothers after a prolonged period of 20 years.

Mohammed Ahmed Ghulam Rabbani (53) and his brother Abdul Rahim Ghulam Rabbani (55), were held by the US police over their alleged links to terrorism.

Dawn reported, citing The New York Times, that during their 20 years of custody, the two detained brothers were never charged with a single crime.

The Foreign Office of the US said that the brother duo was released following “an extensive inter-agency process”.

The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a United States military prison located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also referred to as Guantanamo, GTMO.

The prison, which was opened by President George W. Bush to hold terrorism suspects captured overseas after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks came to symbolize harsh detention practices that opened the United States to accusations of torture.

The prison with high walls and barbed wires was opened in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the US by then president, George W Bush, to jail terrorism suspects captured overseas.

Soon, Guantanamo became notorious with harsh practices, opening the United States to criticism of torture. However, over the few years, the inmate population came down.
The Rabbani Brothers were arrested in Karachi in 2002.

Another Pentagon statement read that on May 13, 2021, a review committee came to the conclusion that the elder brother’s detention was “no longer necessary to protect against a continuing significant threat to the security of the United States.”

The committee’s findings were later approved by a review board on August 17, 2021. The board determined that the “national security risk” from Mohammad could be “adequately mitigated”.

US Secretary of Defence, Lloyd Austin, on January 18 had told the Congress that the two Pakistani brothers would be sent back to their country and that the formalities necessary for their transfer were completed, reported Dawn.

The Department of Defence’s statement said that the US appreciates the Pakistan government’s and of other partners’ willingness to extend support to the US efforts on responsibly reducing the inmates’ population and finally closing the Guantanamo Bay facility.
Even as their transfer was finalised in 2021, it is yet to be ascertained why the two brothers remained in prison, the NYT report said. With the release of this brother duo, the number of Pakistani prisoners repatriated from Guantanamo Bay prison rose to four.

Another Pakistani inmate, Majid Khan (42) was shifted from Guantanamo Bay prison to Belize in Central America by the Biden administration. The facility’s oldest inmate, Saifullah Paracha (75), was repatriated to Pakistan in October 2022.

The prison still has 32 detainees, of which 18 are eligible for transfer, three are eligible for consideration of the Periodic Review Board, nine are in the military commission’s process and two are convicted by the military commission, according to the Dawn newspaper. 

(ANI)