Mohammed Farik bin Amin and Mohammed Nazir bin Lep were handed over to the Malaysian government to serve the remainder of the five-year prison sentences they received after pleading guilty in a Military Commission court to multiple breaches of the laws of war including murder, causing bodily harm, conspiracy and destruction of property, the Defense Department said in a news release.
"Pursuant to a pretrial agreement between the United States and the two men, each has cooperated with the U.S. Government and has provided deposition testimony available for use against the alleged mastermind, Encep Nurjaman, of the al-Qaida-affiliated attacks on nightclubs in Bali, Indonesia in 2002, and the attack on the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2003," the Pentagon said.
The three men were arrested in Thailand in 2003 and handed over to U.S. authorities which only announced they were moving ahead with plans to put them on trial in 2021.
Bin Amin and bin Lep were each sentenced to five years' confinement in June after pleading guilty with a recommendation both men be repatriated or transferred to a third-party sovereign nation to serve the rest of the approved sentence.
The transfer, which came five weeks after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin notified Congress of his intent to repatriate the pair to Malaysia, is part of ongoing efforts to phase out the detention camp at the U.S. naval station on Cuba's southern coast used to hold militants, captured battlefield combatants, and terrorism suspects in the wake of the 9/11 attacks in 2001.
Separately, the Pentagon announced Wednesday that Mohammed Abdul Malik Bajabu had been handed over to the Kenyan government after being held in Guantanamo since 2007 on suspicion of being a facilitator for an al-Qaida group in East Africa.
He was arrested by Kenyan authorities in connection with the 2002 bombing of a Israeli-owned hotel in Mombassa that killed 13 people and injured some 80 others and handed over to U.S. authorities -- but was never charged with any criminal offense.
Wednesday's transfers bring the number of detainees remaining at Guantanamo Bay to 27, according to Pentagon figures, of which 15 are eligible for transfer and three are eligible for a Periodic Review Board.
Seven are going through the military commissions process with two others already convicted and sentenced.
"The United States appreciates the support to ongoing U.S. efforts toward a deliberate and thorough process focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately closing the Guantanamo Bay facility," said the Pentagon.
U.S. releases Guantanamo Bay detainee to Kenya
Washington DC (UPI) Dec 18, 2024 -
The Pentagon announced Tuesday that Mohammed Abdul Malik Bajabu has been released from Guantanamo Bay, reducing the number of detainees at the controversial Cuban prison to 29.
Bajabu, 51, was released to the government of Kenya, the Pentagon said in a statement, ending the man's nearly two-decade detention at the U.S. facility.
Though never charged with a crime, Bajabu was accused of being a facilitator for an al-Qaida group in East Africa.
A Guantanamo detainee profile for Bajabu states he was inspired by a radical imam to leave his native Kenya to receive extremist training in Somalia in 1996. The report states he was "closely involved in the preparation and execution" of attacks in Mombasa, Kenya, in November 2002.
The attack targeted an Israeli-owned hotel with a bomb, killing 13 people and injuring some 80 others. A surface-to-air rocket was also fired at an Israeli charter airplane taking off from Mombasa airport, but failed.
Bajabu was arrested for the attack by Kenyan authorities in February 2007 and was transferred to U.S. custody. He had been a detainee at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility since March of 2007.
Following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, then-President George W. Bush issued a military order directing specific non-citizen detainees accused of terrorism-related crimes to be held at Guantanamo Bay, according to the U.S. Congressional Research Service.
Construction on the facility that could hold about 2,000 prisoners began in early 2002 with its first 300 detainees arriving from facilities in Kandahar, Afghanistan, almost immediately after, it said.
The facility has held about 780 detainees since 2002 and has attracted criticism from human rights advocates as most prisoners there were never charged, among other issues.
Bajabu's release comes nearly three years after the Periodic Review Board determined that his detention "was no longer necessary to protect against a continuing significant threat to the national security of the United States," the Pentagon said.
"The United States appreciates the support to ongoing U.S. efforts toward a deliberate and thorough process focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately closing the Guantanamo Bay facility," the Department of State said Tuesday.
While Amnesty International said it welcomed Bajabu's release, the human rights organization hoped to see more transfers in the coming days.
"Fifteen men remain who have never been charged with any crimes and have long been cleared by U.S. security agencies to leave Guantánamo, some for more than a decade. As a matter of justice, they should be transferred as soon as possible," Daphne Eviatar, director of the Security with Human Rights program at Amnesty International USA, said in a statement.
"President Biden must transfer these men before he leaves office, or he will continue to bear responsibility for the abhorrent practice of indefinite detention without charge or trial by the U.S. government."
According to government statistics, of the 29 detainees remaining at Guantanamo Bay, 15 are eligible for transfer, three are eligible for a Periodic Review Board, seven are involved in the military commissions process and four have been convicted and sentenced.
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