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| U.S. Sends Guantanamo Inmate Back to Morocco |
| 2015-09-18 |
| [AnNahar] The United States announced Thursday it has repatriated a Moroccan prisoner who spent 13 years at Guantanamo Bay, as part of a long-running effort to close the U.S. military prison in Cuba. The Pentagon said Younis Abdurrahman Chekkouri was sent home to Morocco following a "comprehensive" security review that saw six U.S. departments and agencies unanimously approve him for transfer. He was transferred on Wednesday, said a Pentagon official, who did not say whether Chekkouri would be imprisoned, sent to his room or released. The 47-year-old was captured by Pak forces in late December 2001 with a group of several dozen Arab fighters who had fled the Tora Bora cave complex in eastern Afghanistan, a stronghold of the Taliban and its al-Qaeda allies. Transferred to Guantanamo in May 2002, he was never charged. Following his release, 115 detainees still remain in the prison opened to hold terror suspects following the September 11 attacks in 2001. That's less than half the number who were detained there (242) when President Barack Obama Jedi mind meld... took office in January 2009. Obama has vowed to close the prison but has struggled to do so in the face of domestic opposition at home in Congress and abroad from allies reluctant to take in one-time terror suspects. He now has just a little more than a year to fulfill his promise. Among the options available to shutter the prison camp, the Pentagon is weighing potentially transferring detainees to U.S. military prisons at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #6 A little recognized bit of Moroccan history - The Alaouite family claim descent from Muhammad through his daughter Fāṭimah az-Zahrah and her husband ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib. I don't think the Moroccan monarchy has much time for the wannabee upstarts in the ME. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2015-09-18 09:52 |
| #5 For those unaware - Morocco last year made it a crime with mandatory prison for someone to join and fight as a terrorist both in the country, and overseas. He's likely going to be locked up straight away, with a trial to be discussed in a few years. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2015-09-18 09:00 |
| #4 |
| Posted by: 2015-09-18 08:00 |
| #3 ...as part of a long-running effort to close the U.S. military prison in Cuba. Gotta love the use of the passive voice, like it's mysteriously happening on its own! |
| Posted by: Raj 2015-09-18 07:56 |
| #2 See him in Syria/Iraq in ??? months? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2015-09-18 04:39 |
| #1 The Moroccan government has a very warm welcoming planned. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2015-09-18 01:26 |