While the nation was focused on Syria, The Obama administration transferred two al Qaeda terrorists from GITMO to the government of Algeria as part of its ongoing effort to close the prison.
Via Reuters:
The Pentagon announced the transfer of Nabil Said Hadjarab and Mutia Sadiq Ahmad Sayyab, leaving 164 detainees still at the prison, including 84 others cleared for release years ago.
The Obama administration first announced plans to repatriate the two inmates to Algeria last month, resuming the transfer of detainees for the first time in nearly a year.
It was not immediately clear how long the two men had been held by the U.S. government. No personal details were immediately available from the Pentagon or the White House.
According to Hadjarab’s DoD detainee file obtained by the Telegraph, he arrived at GITMO 02/15/2002 and was assessed to be a member of the al-Qaida Global Jihad Support Network (GJSN) with direct associations to the Algerian Armed Islamic Group (GIA). His threat level to the US was assessed to be “medium”.
Mutia Sadiq Ahmad Sayyab was also assessed to be a member of GJSN and has been at GITMO since January 20, 2002. His threat level was assessed to be “medium”. His intelligence value “high”.
The Pentagon says they made the decision to release the two prisoners after “a comprehensive review by an interagency task force.”
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