US repatriates Algerian prisoner from Guantanamo

WASHINGTON — The US military on Thursday repatriated to Algeria a man who had been imprisoned without charge at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for more than 20 years.

Said bin Brahim bin Umran Bakush, 52, was transferred to the custody of the Algerian government, the Pentagon said in a statement.

Bakush was among a group of about 20 suspected al-Qaeda fighters detained by Pakistani forces during a 2002 raid in Faisalabad, all of whom were sent to Guantanamo and only one of whom remains, The New York Times reported.

His repatriation leaves 30 other detainees at the US military prison at the Guantanamo base, 16 of whom are eligible for transfer, according to the military. 

A panel of US national security officials tasked with reviewing Guantanamo prisoners’ detainment determined that Bakush’s continued detention “was no longer necessary to protect against a continuing significant threat to the national security of the United States,” the Pentagon said in a statement Thursday.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin notified lawmakers in Congress of the plan to repatriate Bakush on Feb. 21, the Pentagon said.

Of the 30 detainees remaining at Guantanamo, three are eligible to appear before the Periodic Review Board and two have been convicted in military trials.

The Biden administration has renewed an effort initially started by the Obama administration to close the notorious prison, which was set up in 2002 to hold alleged terrorists in the wake of the September 11 attacks. The Biden administration has repatriated at least six detainees in the past year.

Nearly 800 people have cycled through the prison, which is run by a US military task force and held more than 650 detainees at its peak during the Bush administration in 2003