One of the First Guantanamo Detainees Released to Tunisia After 23 Years

guantanamo, cuba - After nearly 23 years of captivity, one of the first detainees imprisoned at the controversial American Guantanamo prison in Cuba has been extradited to Tunisia.

American media report that Ridah Bin Salih al-Jasidi (59) has been held there since the prison opened in January 2002. He has never been charged. Pakistani security services arrested him in December 2001 at the Afghan border. It took about ten years to arrange his extradition to Tunisia. Three other Guantanamo detainees have already been returned to their home countries in recent months.

The prison is located in Cuba at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay. At one point, nearly eight hundred suspects were held there. The former US President George W. Bush took over the prison after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Suspected terrorists were held there without trial.

The outgoing US President Joe Biden made it a goal at the beginning of his term to close the prison. His intention was thwarted in the US Congress. Bush's successor, Democrat Barack Obama, also wanted to close the prison. Republican Donald Trump wants to keep the prison open longer.

There are still 26 detainees in Guantanamo. The Pentagon says that fourteen of them are eligible for extradition. The New York Times reports that only one of the original twenty detainees is still in a cell. He is a Yemeni, serving a life sentence as an associate of Osama bin Laden, the former leader of the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda.