The United States has repatriated a Kenyan national, Mohammed Abdul Malik Bajabu, who had been detained at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, commonly known as GTMO, in Cuba.
Bajabu was handed over to Kenyan authorities on Tuesday, December 17, who subsequently facilitated his reunion with his family in Mombasa.
He was arrested as part of the U.S. government’s investigations into terrorism following the September 11 attacks in 2001. Despite being held for 17 years, he was never charged in a court of law.
According to CNN, Bajabu’s release followed a decision by the Periodic Review Board (PRB), which determined in December 2021 that continued detention under the law of war was no longer necessary. The PRB, which assesses whether detainees pose a threat to national security, cleared his release.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had notified Congress in November this year of his intent to transfer Bajabu to Kenya.
Mark Maher, a staff attorney for the human rights group Reprieve US, who represented Bajabu, told the press that he was never charged in a court of law during his 17 years of detention.
Filings from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) implicated Bajabu as a facilitator for al Qaeda in East Africa before his detention.
Bajabu was initially arrested in Mombasa in February 2007 and subsequently transferred to Guantanamo Bay. His detention raised significant legal and human rights concerns, particularly regarding the treatment of detainees and the legality of their detention without trial.
Human rights activists in Kenya had lodged a constitutional petition in 2007 to challenge Bajabu’s rendition which is due for mention in February 2025 - 18 years later.
The last detainee transfer took place in April 2023, when a 72-year-old al Qaeda associate was moved to Algeria after more than 20 years of detention at Guantanamo.
Official records from the Pentagon indicate 29 detainees are at the military prison, with 15 eligible to be transferred as part of diplomatic negotiations or changes in U.S. policy regarding Guantanamo. The remaining ones are linked to 9/11 whose plea has not yet been addressed.
Previous administrations in the US have in the past expressed commitment to close the facility that was opened in 2002. The latest one being of the out-going President Joe Biden who despite efforts pledging to close down the facility, still continues to operate.
