By GEOFFREY BEW
SCREAMS of delight filled the air as freed Bahraini Guantanamo Bay detainee Isa Al Murbati arrived home last night.
Relatives and friends at the family’s Isa Town home had been on tenterhooks for hours, until word came that his plane had touched down, at around 10pm. Mr Al Murbati was whisked straight to the Public Prosecution in Manama for a debriefing.
His excited wife with their daughters stayed at home, but his brother and sons were at the Public Prosecution to greet him. The 41-year-old was flown from Cuba via Germany, aboard a US military plane.
Mr Al Murbati, who has been held in the notorious prison camp since 2001 without charge or trial, is married and has five children: Fatima, 18, Ali, 17, Hafsa, 14, Omar, nine and Ebrahim, seven.
By GEOFFREY BEW
SCREAMS of delight filled the air as freed Bahraini Guantanamo Bay detainee Isa Al Murbati arrived home last night.
Relatives and friends at the family’s Isa Town home had been on tenterhooks for hours, until word came that his plane had touched down, at around 10pm. Mr Al Murbati was whisked straight to the Public Prosecution in Manama for a debriefing.
His excited wife with their daughters stayed at home, but his brother and sons were at the Public Prosecution to greet him. The 41-year-old was flown from Cuba via Germany, aboard a US military plane.
Mr Al Murbati, who has been held in the notorious prison camp since 2001 without charge or trial, is married and has five children: Fatima, 18, Ali, 17, Hafsa, 14, Omar, nine and Ebrahim, seven.
His wife Elham Ebrahim Khalil, 42, was patiently waiting to see him again at the family home, surrounded by friends and relatives.
“My brother-in-law and my son are on their way to see him,” she said minutes after the plane landed.
Ms Khalil was so overwhelmed she said she didn’t know how she would react to seeing her husband again after so long.
“I won’t know until I see him,” said Ms Khalil, as her voice was drowned out by screams of delight from relatives.
Wait
It had been an anxious 24 hours for the family after receiving news on Tuesday that he was finally coming home.
They were kept in suspense right up to the point the plane landed and Ms Khalil said earlier in the evening that she would only believe it was all true when she saw her husband in the flesh.
“I can hardly believe it, I don’t know what to expect,” she said.
“I am just waiting for him to return.
“The children have been ready all day and have been waiting for him to come.”
Ms Khalil said she couldn’t believe about her husband’s return and had been unable to make any special plans for his arrival. She revealed she only found out the news of his imminent release when one of his brothers told her that government officials had called him with the information.
She said that by last night no-one had since given the family any more details.
MP Dr Jassim Hussain yesterday said senior government officials had contacted Mr Al Murbati’s family earlier to confirm that he was coming home.
Dr Hussain, who had been instrumental in a campaign to bring home the detainees, said he would be at the Public Prosecution to take Mr Al Murbati home.
Mr Al Murbati was taken to Guantanamo Bay after being captured fleeing Afghanistan as it came under bombing from the US and coalition troops in December 2001.
The US government accused him of travelling from Bahrain to Afghanistan one month earlier to fight coalition forces.
It is claimed he first went to Kandahar and then to Kabul to be trained in how to use AK-47 rifle.
Mr Al Murbati was also said to have been affiliated with the separatist group Abu Sayyaf, whose members allegedly met in the Philippines to discuss channelling money to Arabs in Afghanistan.
Denial
But his family strongly denied he had any links to a terrorist organisation, saying he had gone to Pakistan for charity work and was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
They only learnt of his arrest several months after he left for Pakistan when they received a letter from the Red Cross stating he had been detained in Afghanistan.
In October 2005, Ms Khalil revealed that her eldest daughter Fatima cried herself to sleep at night thinking of her father wasting away in prison.
“The little ones don’t really know about what has happened, but I know the elder two do,” she said at the time.
“But I know they will never talk about it.
“Especially my eldest girl, she was 12 when she last saw her father.
“I know it upsets her, but she doesn’t like to talk about it.”
Mr Al Murbati, had been kept in Camp Six, said to be one of the “cruellest” facilities in the prison, for more than six months.
He was previously moved from Camp One, allegedly the highest security section at the prison, after being forced off hunger strike in December 2005.
The GDN reported last Friday that the Bahraini was barely able to sleep or talk to other prisoners, because of cruel US military tactics.
His lawyers said guards run large fans in the notorious Camp Six, where he was being held, that sounded like jet engines, prevented captives from communicating and deprived them of sleep
Mr Colangelo-Bryan said his client was often scolded for trying to speak to other prisoners and was forced to talk through a small gap between the bottom of his cell door and the floor.
Fellow detainee Juma Al Dossary, 32, who has dual Bahraini-Saudi nationality, was among a group of 16 Saudis freed and transferred to Riyadh last month.
He is still being held in Al Hair prison and is expected to be moved to another shortly to undertake a rehabilitation programme to prepare him for life in the community.
Three other Bahrainis, Adel Kamel Hajee, Abdulla Al Nuaimi and Shaikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, were released from Guantanamo in November 2005, while Salah Al Blooshi was freed and returned to Bahrain in October last year.
geoff@gdn.com.bh