U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay and returned home to Sudan early
Friday after six years of imprisonment that drew worldwide
protests.
Sami al-Haj arrived at the airport in Sudan's capital, Khartoum,
on a U.S. military plane along with two other Sudanese released
from Guantanamo.
Al-Haj was the only journalist from a major international news
organization held at Guantanamo and many of his supporters saw his
detention as punishment for a network whose broadcasts angered U.S.
officials.
The military alleged he was a courier for a militant Muslim
organization, an allegation his lawyers denied.
"It was a big surprise for the family," al-Haj's brother Assem
said, with tears in his eyes as he stood at Khartoum airport
waiting for his brother's arrival. "Finally the day has come to
see him freed."
Al-Haj was detained in December 2001 by Pakistani authorities as
he tried to enter Afghanistan to cover the U.S.-led invasion. He
was turned over to the U.S. military and taken in January 2002 to
Guantanamo Bay, where the United States holds some 275 men
suspected of links to al-Qaida and the Taliban, most of them
without charges.
Reprieve, the British human rights group that represents 35
Guantanamo prisoners, said Pakistani forces apparently seized
al-Haj at the behest of the U.S. authorities who suspected he had
interviewed Osama bin Laden, said .
But that "supposed intelligence" turned out to be false,
Reprieve said in a news release.
"This is wonderful news, and long overdue," said Clive
Stafford Smith, Reprieve's director, who has represented al-Haj
since 2005. "The U.S. administration has never had any reason for
holding Mr. Al Haj, and has, instead, spent six years shamelessly
attempting to turn him against his employers at Al-Jazeera."
Sudanese officials said al-Haj would not face any charges upon
his return.
A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon, declined
comment.
Al-Haj's lawyers say the 38-year-old has been on hunger strike
since January 2007 to protest conditions and indefinite confinement
at the prison. As of Monday, the military said there were seven men
on hunger strike. Hunger strikers at Guantanamo are force-fed twice
daily with tubes pushed through their noses.
Attorney Zachary Katznelson of Reprieve, who met al-Haj at
Guantanamo on April 11, said shortly after the meeting that the
cameraman was "emaciated" because of his hunger strike. The
lawyer also said al-Haj had recently been having problems with his
liver and kidneys and had blood in his urine.
"Sami is a poster child for everything that is wrong about
Guantanamo Bay: no charges, no trial, constantly shifting
allegations, brutal treatment, no visits with family, not even a
phone call home," Katznelson said Thursday.
"Sami was never alleged to have hurt a soul, and was never
proven to have committed any crimes. Yet, he had fewer rights than
convicted mass murderers or rapists. What has happened to American
justice?"
Wadah Khanfar, managing director of Al-Jazeera Arabic, said
al-Haj would spend a few days in a hospital upon his arrival in
Sudan because of health problems related to his hunger strike.
"We are in a state of high expectation and we are overwhelmed
with joy," said Khanfar. He added that al-Haj's wife and child
were flying from Doha, Qatar to Khartoum immediately to see him.
Al-Jazeera is based in Qatar and is funded by the royal family
of the Persian Gulf nation. Its Arabic channel has been excoriated
by the Bush administration as a mouthpiece for terrorists including
Osama bin Laden.
Al-Haj was never prosecuted at Guantanamo so the U.S did not
make public its full allegations against him. But in a hearing that
determined that he was an enemy combatant, U.S. officials alleged
that in the 1990s, al-Haj was an executive assistant at a
Qatar-based beverage company that provided support to Muslim
fighters in Bosnia and Chechnya.
The U.S. claimed he also traveled to Azerbaijan at least eight
times to carry money on behalf of his employer to the Al-Haramain
Islamic Foundation, a now defunct charity that U.S. authorities say
funded militant groups.
The officials said during this period that he met Mamdouh Mahmud
Salim, a senior lieutenant to Osama bin Laden who was arrested in
Germany in 1998 and extradited to the United States. Officials did
not provide details.
Reporters Without Borders expressed "huge relief" at al-Haj's
relief.
"Sami Al-Haj should never have been held so long. U.S.
authorities never proved that he had been involved in any kind of
criminal activity. This case is yet another example of the
injustice reigning in Guantanamo. The base should be closed as
quickly as possible," the group said.
The Committee to Protect Journalists also welcomed the release.
"His detention for six years, without the most basic due
process, is a grave injustice and represents a threat to all
journalists working in conflict areas," it said.
Reprieve identified the two other Sudanese Guantanamo detainees
who were released as Amir Yacoub Al Amir and Walid Ali.