2 Afghans who have been detained at Guantanamo Bay for 14 years have been launched, the Taliban say

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Two Afghan prisoners who have been held in U.S. custody for at the least 14 years on the Guantanamo Bay detention middle after 2002 have been launched from home arrest in Oman, a Taliban spokesman stated Sunday.

Abdul Zahir Saber and Abdul Karim have been launched because of the efforts made by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Taliban inside ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani stated.

Senior Taliban officers posted pictures of Saber and Karim on social media with messages of congratulations. An official welcome ceremony is being organized within the capital, Kabul, for his or her return on Monday, Qani stated.

The 2 males have been held in Guantanamo till 2017, after they have been transferred to the Gulf kingdom of Oman, the place they spent the subsequent seven years beneath home arrest, forbidden to journey.

The US opened the detention middle at Guantanamo Bay, in Cuba, beneath President George W. Bush in January 2002 after the 9/11 terrorist assaults and the invasion of Afghanistan to seize al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden. It was meant on the time to carry and interrogate these suspected of getting hyperlinks to al-Qaida or the Taliban, who had sheltered bin Laden.

Nonetheless, scores of suspects from a number of nations have been later despatched there and the detention middle grew to become infamous after experiences emerged of detainees being humiliated and tortured.

Saber, who was initially from the province of Logar, was arrested by American forces on Could 10, 2002, Qani stated. In October that yr, after 4 months in Bagram jail simply exterior Kabul, Saber was transferred to Guantanamo.

“Because of the efforts of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, after a few years in jail and imposed restrictions shall be eliminated, he’ll return to his homeland,” stated Qani.

Karim, a resident of Tani district of Khost province, within the east, was arrested in Pakistan on Aug. 14, 2002. After just a few months in jail there, he was handed over to American forces.

He was moved to Guantanamo in early 2003 after which to Oman in 2017.