Lists of former Guantanamo Bay detainees alleged to have returned to terrorism
Some former detainees who were held by the US at Guantanamo Bay detention camp have engaged in terrorism or militant activity since their release.
According to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, as of January 2017, 714 detainees have been transferred from Guantanamo Bay. Of these, 121 are listed by them as confirmed of returning to terrorist or militant activities, while 87 are suspected by them of the same. The Defense Intelligence Agency maintains that slightly more have reengaged: 124 and 94, respectively.
Background
Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a joint military prison and interrogation camp under the leadership of Joint Task Force Guantanamo which has occupied a portion of the United States Navy's base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba since 2002.The prison holds people suspected by the U.S. government of being al-Qaeda and Taliban operatives, as well as those no longer considered suspects who are being held pending relocation elsewhere.
History
As early as 2004, the US government claimed that detainees released from Guantanamo Bay detainment camp had returned to the battlefield. Initially, government spokesmen claimed relatively small numbers of former Guantanamo captives had returned to the battlefield. In a press briefing on March 6, 2007 a "Senior Defense official" commented:I can tell you that we have confirmed 12 individuals have returned to the fight, and we have strong evidence that about another dozen have returned to the fight.
On April 2, 2007, JTF-GTMO commander Harry Harris asserted that thirty former captives "resumed terrorist activities".
On Monday, May 14, 2007, Pentagon officials Joseph Benkert and Jeffrey Gordon repeated the assertion that thirty former captives had returned to the battlefield in testimony before the United States Congress.
They identified six of the thirty by name.
They offered the names of the three men previously identified: "Mullah Shahzada"; "Maulavi Abdul Ghaffar"; and Abdullah Mahsud. They tied "Mullah Shahzada" to Mohamed Yusif Yaqub, a Guantanamo captive who was listed on the official list. The other three names they offered were: Mohammed Ismail; Abdul Rahman Noor; and Mohammed Nayim Farouq.
On July 12, 2007 the Department of Defense placed an additional page on their site, entitled: ''"Former Guantanamo Detainees who have returned to the fight".
This list contained one additional name, not on the list released on May 14, 2007, for a total of seven names. The new name was Ruslan Odizhev, a Russian who Russian police reported died while resisting arrest on June 27, 2007.
On 13 January 2009, the Pentagon said that 18 former detainees are confirmed to have participated in attacks, and 43 are suspected to have been involved in attacks. A spokesman said evidence of someone being "confirmed" could include fingerprints, a conclusive photograph or "well-corroborated intelligence reporting." He said the Pentagon would not discuss how the statistics were derived because of security concerns. National security expert and CNN analyst Peter Bergen, stated that some of those "suspected" to have returned to terrorism are so categorized because they publicly made anti-American statements, "something that's not surprising if you've been locked up in a U.S. prison camp for several years." If all on the "confirmed" list have indeed returned to the battlefield, that would amount to 4 percent of the detainees who have been released at that time.
According to a September 2014 report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, in July 2014 of the 620 detainees transferred out of Guantanamo, 107 have been "confirmed of re-engaging," and 77 are "suspected of re-engaging" in terrorist or insurgent activities.
Lists of alleged returnees
2006 list
92 | Abdullah Mahsud |
363 | Maulvi Abdul Ghaffar |
367 | Mohamed Yusif Yaqub |
582 | Abdul Rahman Noor |
633 | Mohammed Nayim Farouq |
930 | Mohammed Ismail |
2007 list
reported isn | name | On July 2007 Press Release | Disposition | Citizenship | Country of Act |
92 | Said Mohammed Alim Shah | Yes | Killed | Afghanistan | Afghanistan |
203 | Ravil Shafeyavich Gumarov | No | Arrest | Russia | Russia |
69 | Ruslan Anatolivich Odijev | Yes | Arrest | Russia | Russia |
220 | Abdallah Saleh Ali Al Ajmi | No | Killed | Kuwait | Iraq |
294 | Mohammed Mizouz | No | Arrest | Morocco | Morocco |
297 | Ibrahim Shafir Sen | No | Arrest | Turkey | Turkey |
363 | Shai Jahn Ghafoor | Yes | Killed | Afghanistan | Afghanistan |
587 | Mohammed Yusif Yaqub | Yes | Killed | Afghanistan | Afghanistan |
587 | Ibrahim Bin Shakaran | No | Arrest | Morocco | Morocco |
633 | Mohammed Nayim Farouq | Yes | At Large | Afghanistan | Afghanistan |
674 | Timur Ravilich Ishmurat | No | Arrest | Russia | Russia |
930 | Mohammed Ismail | Yes | Capture | Afghanistan | Afghanistan |
2008 list
2009 reports
Department of Defense spokesmen claimed in January 2009 that at least 61 former captives had returned to the fight.But they did not publish any of the men's names.
Saudi list
On February 3, 2009, the government of Saudi Arabia published a list of 85 most wanted suspected terrorists that included two former Guantanamo captives who had appeared in an alarming video, and nine other former captives.BBC report
On February 18, 2009, the BBC News reported that UK officials had told them that an Afghan former captive repatriated in the Spring of 2008 had risen to a high-ranking position in the Taliban, in Pakistan, following his return. The BBC reports they had been told his name was Mullah Abdul Kayum Sakir. The USA did not list any captives with names close to Abdul Kayum Sakir.The five captives repatriated on April 30, 2008, are:
Nasrullah,
Esmatulla,
Rahmatullah Sangaryar,
Sahib Rohullah Wakil, and Abdullah Mohammad Khan.
Department of Defense
In March 2009, U.S. officials revealed that Abdullah Ghulam Rasoul is now leading the Taliban's operations in southern Afghanistan.The May 2009 "one in seven" claims
On May 21, 2009, Elizabeth Bumiller, writing in The New York Times, reported that they had secured access to an unreleased Pentagon report that asserted "one in seven" former captives "are engaged in terrorism or militant activity."According to The New York Times Pentagon officials had asserted 74 former captives had returned to terrorism, and had named 29 individuals, including 16 previously unpublished ones. The New York Times chose to publish only 15 of those 16 names because of discrepancies concerning the 16th.
On June 6, 2009 Clark Hoyt, whose byline lists him as The New York Times "public editor" wrote an apology to The New York Times readers for Bumiller's article.
isn | name | transfer date | nation | notes |
8 | Abdullah Gulam Rasoul | 2007-12-12 | Afghanistan |
|
23 | Isa Khan | 2004-09-17 | Pakistan | |
25 | Majeed Abdullah al Joudi | 2007-02-20 | Saudi Arabia | |
67 | Abd al Razaq Abdallah Hamid Ibrahim al Sharikh | 2007-09-05 | Saudi Arabia | |
82 | Rasul Kudayev | 2004-02-27 | Russia | |
92 | - | |||
154 | Mazin Salih Musaid al Awfi | 2007-07-15 | Saudi Arabia | |
159 | Abdullah al Noaimi | 2005-11-04 | Bahrain | |
203 | Ravil Shafeyavich Gumarov | Russia | ||
209 | Almasm Rabilavich Sharipov | Russia | ||
211 | Ruslan Odijev | Russia | ||
230 | Humud Dakhil Humud Said al Jadan | 2007-07-15 | Saudi Arabia | |
231 | Abdulhadi Abdallah Ibrahim al Sharakh | 2007-09-05 | Saudi Arabia | |
294 | Mohammed bin Ahmad Mizouz | July 2004 | Morocco | |
333 | Muhammad al Awfi | 2007-11-09 | Saudi Arabia | |
372 | Said Ali al Shihri | 2007-11-09 | Saudi Arabia | |
546 | Muhibullah | 2005-07-19 | Afghanistan | |
571 | Saad Madi Saad al Azmi | 2005-11-02 | Kuwait | |
587 | Ibrahim bin Shakaran | July 2004 | Morocco | |
674 | Timur Ravilich Ishmurat | 2004-02-17 | Russia | |
798 | Haji Sahib Rohullah Wakil | 2008-04-30 | Afghanistan | |
1010 | Nahir Shah | 2007-11-02 | Afghanistan |
DoD list of May 27, 2009
On May 27, 2009 the Defense Intelligence Agency published a "fact sheet" Former Guantanamo Detainee Terrorism Trends that contained a Partial Listing of Former GTMO Detainees Who have Reengaged in Terrorism. Although it was published on May 27, it bears the date April 7, 2009.Name | Nationality | Repatriated | Activity | Status |
| Afghanistan | March 2003 | Died fighting Afghan forces | Suspected |
Shah Mohammed | Pakistan | May 2003 | Killed fighting US forces in Afghanistan | Confirmed |
Afghanistan | May 2003 | Taliban commander in Afghanistan; Organized jailbreak in Kandahar; killed on 7 May 2004 fighting US forces | Confirmed | |
Mohammed Nayim Farouq | Afghanistan | July 2003 | Association with Taliban and al-Qaida; involved in anti-coalition activity | Suspected |
Ibrahim Shafir Sen | Turkey | November 2003 | Leader of al-Qaida cells in Van; recruited and trained members, provided illegal weapons and facilitation | Confirmed |
Mohammed Ismail | Afghanistan | January 2004 | Participated in an attack against US forces Taliban member | Confirmed |
Abdullah D. Kafkas | Russia | March 2004 | Suspected involvement in an attack against a traffice police checkpoint in Nalchik in October 2005 | Suspected |
Almasm Rabilavich Sharipov | Russia | March 2004 | Association with terrorist group | Suspected |
Timur Ravilich Ishmurat | Russia | March 2004 | Involved in a gas line bombing | Confirmed |
Ruslan Anatolivich Odijev | Russia | March 2004 | Participated in several terrorism acts including an October 2005 attack in the Caucasus region that killed and injured several police officers | Suspected |
Afghanistan | March 2004 | Kidnapped two Chinese engineers; Claimed responsibility for an Islamabad hotel bombing; directed a suicide attack in April 2007 killing 31 people | Confirmed | |
Ravil Gumarov | Russia | March 2004 | Involved in a gas line bombing | Confirmed |
Abdullah Ghofoor | Afghanistan | March 2004 | Taliban commander; planning attacks on U.S. and Afghan forces; killed in a raid by Afghan security forces | Suspected |
Mohammed Bin Ahmad Mizouz | Morocco | July 2004 | Recruiter for al-Qaida in Iraq | Confirmed |
Ibrahim Bin Shakaran | Morocco | July 2004 | Recruiter for al-Qaida in Iraq | Confirmed |
Isa Khan | Pakistan | September 2004 | Association with Tehrik-i-Taliban | Suspected |
Muhibullah | Afghanistan | July 2005 | Association with the Taliban | Suspected |
Abdallah Saleh Ali al-Ajmi | Kuwait | November 2005 | Conducted a suicide attack in Iraq | Confirmed |
Abdullah Majid Al-Naimi | Bahrain | November 2005 | Arrested in October 2008; involved in terrorist facilitation; has known associations with al-Qaida | Confirmed |
Saad Madhi Saad Hawash al Azmi | Kuwait | November 2005 | Association with al-Qaida | Suspected |
Majid Abdullah Lahiq al Joudi | Saudi Arabia | February 2007 | Terrorist facilitation | Confirmed |
Saudi Arabia | July 2007 | Leadership figure in al-Qaida in Arabian Peninsula | Confirmed | |
Abd al Razzaq Abdallah Ibrahim al-Sharikh | Saudi Arabia | September 2007 | Arrested in September 2008 for supporting terrorism | Suspected |
Abd al Hadi Abdallah Ibrahim al Sharikh | Saudi Arabia | September 2007 | Arrested in September 2008 for association with terrorist members; supporting terrorism | Suspected |
Zahir Shah | Afghanistan | November 2007 | Participation in terrorist training | Confirmed |
Abu Sufyan al Azdi al-Shihri | Saudi Arabia | November 2007 | Leadership figure in al-Qaida in Arabian Peninsula | Confirmed |
Abdullah Gulam Rasoul | Afghanistan | December 2007 | Taliban military commander for Afghanistan; Organizaed an assault on U.S. military aircraft in Afghanistan | Suspected |
Hajji Sahib Rohullah Wakil | Afghanistan | April 2008 | Association with terrorist groups | Suspected |
2017
, also known as Jamal Udeen Al-Harith, murdered a number of Iraqi soldiers and killed himself via murder-bombing in 2017. The BBC reported that Tony Blair personally was involved with getting Abu-Zakariya freed from Guantanamo in 2004. The UK government paid $1 million as compensation to Abu-Zakariya al-Britani for his stay at Guantanamo.Third party comments
In August 2011 UK captive Tarek Dergoul got into a scuffle with a parking official, who was giving his car a ticket at an expired parking meter.He received a one-year conditional sentence, and had to undergo a mental health assessment.
Benjamin Wittes, a legal scholar who focuses on counter-terrorism issues, referred to the issue of competing assessment as to what percentage of former Guantanamo captives should be considered Guantanamo recidivists, when he asked whether Dergoul's conviction would make him a recidivist.