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U.S. Repatriates Guantánamo Bay Detainee Held for 2 Decades Without Trial

Ghassan Abdullah al-Sharbi was held under suspicion of having built explosives for al-Qaeda, and was briefly charged with “providing material support for terrorism.”

The Pentagon said Wednesday that it had repatriated a Saudi man detained for more than two decades at Guantánamo Bay without trial. The transfer of the prisoner, Ghassan Abdullah al-Sharbi, was first reported by The New York Times. It reduces the population at Guantánamo to 31, and follows three other releases in February. Al-Sharbi, 48, was captured in Pakistan and held on suspicion of making explosive devices for al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. He was briefly charged with “providing material support for terrorism,” according to the Times, but the case was dropped after it was determined that the charge could not retroactively be applied as an international war crime. In a statement, the Pentagon said the U.S. appreciated the “willingness” of Saudi Arabia to support its efforts towards “responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately closing the Guantánamo Bay facility.”