With help, former detainee to start a new life
Sandeep Singh Grewal
Staff Reporter
Juma Al Dossary, one of the former Bahraini Guantanamo Bay detainies, is unlikely to return to the Kingdom according to his family. He will stay in Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi government plans to give the former detainee a car, a job and expenses to get married and start a new life. This was revealed by human rights activist Nabeel Rajab.
He told the Tribune: “Juma was informed three weeks before his departure by the US authorities in Guantanamo Bay whether he would like to move with a group of Saudi detainees who were released or stay back until they plan to release the Bahrain detainees. He has a dual citizenship and choose to be freed along with 15 Saudi detainees. This makes his chances for his return to Bahrain slim as he chose to be with the Saudi group.”
With help, former detainee to start a new life
Sandeep Singh Grewal
Staff Reporter
Juma Al Dossary, one of the former Bahraini Guantanamo Bay detainies, is unlikely to return to the Kingdom according to his family. He will stay in Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi government plans to give the former detainee a car, a job and expenses to get married and start a new life. This was revealed by human rights activist Nabeel Rajab.
He told the Tribune: “Juma was informed three weeks before his departure by the US authorities in Guantanamo Bay whether he would like to move with a group of Saudi detainees who were released or stay back until they plan to release the Bahrain detainees. He has a dual citizenship and choose to be freed along with 15 Saudi detainees. This makes his chances for his return to Bahrain slim as he chose to be with the Saudi group.”
The 16 released men are currently in Al Hair prison in Riyadh where their families are allowed to visit them.
Juma Al Dossary along with other prisoners will be sent to a rehabilitation centre today.
Juma’s brother Khalid Al Dossary told the Tribune: “My brother along with other detainees will be sent to a rehabilitation centre in Saudi Arabia. They will undergo several interrogation sessions to determine whether they were associated with any extremist group. If he passes the tests, he will be freed.” Al Dossary said speaking from Dammam yesterday.
London-based Saudi newspaper Asharq Al Awsat reported that the prisoners were expected to remain in custody while the authorities investigated whether they had links to militant organisations. Prince Naif bin Abdulaziz, the Minister of Interior, had said to agencies that all transferred detainees will come under the purview of the Saudi applicable rules and regulations.
Rajab who is also the Vice President of the now-defunct Bahrain Centre for Human Rights said that for the first time a Saudi plane landed at the US base in Cuba on which the detainees were transferred.
“This is the first time that a Saudi plane was used for the transportation of the detainees unlike previous occasions. The detainees were not handcuffed, which is something strange. They were well received in Saudi Arabia by the authorities. We urge the Bahrain government to work for the release of Isa Al Murbati, who is the last Bahraini detainee in Guantanamo Bay,” Rajab said.
Khalid Al Dossary recently visited his brother in prison and said that Juma was feeling and looking much better.
“When we saw him for the first time, he looked old, thin and sick. During our recent visit, Juma said that he was eating well and was indulging in recreational activities. The prison has all the facilities and the detainees do not feel like they have been shifted from one camp to another. We plan to keep him in Saudi Arabia as our family resides here.” said Khalid.
Juma had been allegedly linked with the Buffalo Six, a group of six Yemeni-Americans, who were accused of providing material support to Al Qaeda. He served as an imam for about six months at a mosque in Bloomigton, Indiana, seven years ago.
The former chief medical officer ar Camp Delta said in court papers filed a month after Juma’s suicide attempt that the detainee had undisclosed mental health issues and often refused to take medicine or cooperate with therapists.
For Juma it has been a rough road which led him to 13 suicide attempts.
Pushed to the psychological edge he was kept in solitary confinement and wrote a letter addressed to his lawyer stating that “Death is his greatest hope.”
The United States has released more than 400 detainees, most of whom were later freed by their home countries. The US now holds about 360 people on suspicion of terrorism, links to Al Qaeda or the Taliban.
Article from: Bahrain Tribune Newspaper- www.BahrainTribune.com