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May 21, 2009

Pentagon Report Says 1 in 7 Freed Gitmo Prisoners Engage in Militancy
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A newly disclosed Pentagon report says that about one in seven of the
534 prisoners released from Guantanamo Bay have gone on to engage in
militant activity. Opponents of due process rights are expected to use
the report to advance their arguments in favor of the continued
indefinite jailing of Guantanamo prisoners. But as with prior claims,
the Pentagon report offers few details and prevents independent
verification. Of the seventy-four prisoners said to have engaged in
militancy after their release, only five can be independently verified
to have actually engaged in or threatened to carry out militant acts.
The report also fails to say how many of the former prisoners were
believed to have gone on to militant activity as a result of their
torture at Guantanamo. The most deadly act by a former Guantanamo
prisoner was carried out by Kuwaiti national Abdallah al-Ajmi, who drove
a bomb-laden truck into an Iraqi army base in March 2008, killing
thirteen people. Al-Ajmi’s attorney has said he was radicalized and left
mentally unstable following his four years at Guantanamo.



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