WASHINGTON — A former British resident held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will be flown home early next week, becoming the first transfer of a Guantanamo detainee by the Obama administration, according to a source involved in the process, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to comment on the subject.
The British government had pressed the new administration to make the case of Binyam Mohammed a priority. The release of the Ethiopian native could come as early as Monday, the day Attorney General Eric Holder is scheduled to visit the military facility with top Justice Department officials who are leading a review of the cases of the approximately 245 detainees held there.
Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman, said that “as a matter of longstanding policy, we do not discuss detainee transfers and releases until they occur.”
Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said the U.S. “is continuing to engage actively” with British officials on Mohammed. They are also discussing another former British resident, Shaker Aamer, a Saudi detainee married to a British woman, but U.S. officials speaking on condition of anonymity said they regard him as “dangerous” and unlikely to be released.
Mohammed’s case was a source of tension between the United States and Britain. Britain’s High Court said this month it was reluctantly sealing information related to Mohammed’s allegation that he was tortured in Morocco at the behest of the United States after American officials threatened to withdraw intelligence cooperation with Britain.
Mohammed was arrested in Pakistan in April 2002 and some months later was turned over to U.S. authorities. Mohammed alleges that he was flown to Morocco, where he was tortured to extract confessions that he was involved in various terrorist plots. He was flown to Guantanamo Bay in 2004 after spending nearly two years in secret custody.
U.S. officials have never confirmed that Mohammed was flown to the North African country, and Moroccan officials deny having held him.
U.S. officials had alleged in a habeas corpus proceeding in federal court that Mohammed was involved in a plot to detonate a radioactive “dirty bomb” in the United States, but the accusation was withdrawn in October. Defense attorneys said the allegation, which has been raised and dropped against a number of defendants, including U.S. citizen Jose Padilla, was spurious and based on false confessions.
British officials have said Mohammed faces no charges there and will be released upon his return.
