Posted on Sep 25, 2015
"Yemeni Spent 13 Years at Guantánamo because a U.S. Soldier Confused the Name of a Village with Al-Qaeda"
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From: All Gov
A single name lost in translation cost Emad Hassan 13 years of freedom.
The Yemeni was in his early twenties when he traveled to Pakistan in 2001 to study the Koran at a small university.
But following the attacks on Sept. 11 and the subsequent invasion of Afghanistan by the U.S., Hassan was arrested by Pakistani security forces looking for possible al-Qaeda members to turn over to the American military.
Shipped to Afghanistan, Hassan was held prisoner by U.S. soldiers and interrogated. The American grilling Hassan relied on an interpreter who spoke broken Arabic, which proved tragic for the young Yemeni.
Asked if he had any connection with al-Qaeda, Hassan said yes. But it was not the terrorist group he was admitting to being familiar with. In Yemen, not far from Hassan’s hometown, is a village called Al-Qa’idah. It was this place he was responding to, not al-Qaeda. But the translator didn’t realize the mistake, and the American soldier interrogating Hassan had all he needed.
Hassan was shipped to Guantánamo, where he was cleared for release in 2009 but remained until June of this year, when he was released in Oman.
“What had started as a comic misunderstanding became a surreal odyssey through the dark side of America’s war on terror,” Lauren Walker wrote at Newsweek.
According to the human rights group Reprieve, Hassan was “one of the first detainees to go on a peaceful hunger strike in 2007. He remained on hunger strike until the day he was freed.”
http://www.allgov.com/news/unusual-news/yemeni-spent-13-years-at-guant%C3%A1namo-because-a-us-soldier-confused-the-name-of-a-village-with-al-qaeda-150915?news=857425
A single name lost in translation cost Emad Hassan 13 years of freedom.
The Yemeni was in his early twenties when he traveled to Pakistan in 2001 to study the Koran at a small university.
But following the attacks on Sept. 11 and the subsequent invasion of Afghanistan by the U.S., Hassan was arrested by Pakistani security forces looking for possible al-Qaeda members to turn over to the American military.
Shipped to Afghanistan, Hassan was held prisoner by U.S. soldiers and interrogated. The American grilling Hassan relied on an interpreter who spoke broken Arabic, which proved tragic for the young Yemeni.
Asked if he had any connection with al-Qaeda, Hassan said yes. But it was not the terrorist group he was admitting to being familiar with. In Yemen, not far from Hassan’s hometown, is a village called Al-Qa’idah. It was this place he was responding to, not al-Qaeda. But the translator didn’t realize the mistake, and the American soldier interrogating Hassan had all he needed.
Hassan was shipped to Guantánamo, where he was cleared for release in 2009 but remained until June of this year, when he was released in Oman.
“What had started as a comic misunderstanding became a surreal odyssey through the dark side of America’s war on terror,” Lauren Walker wrote at Newsweek.
According to the human rights group Reprieve, Hassan was “one of the first detainees to go on a peaceful hunger strike in 2007. He remained on hunger strike until the day he was freed.”
http://www.allgov.com/news/unusual-news/yemeni-spent-13-years-at-guant%C3%A1namo-because-a-us-soldier-confused-the-name-of-a-village-with-al-qaeda-150915?news=857425
Posted in these groups: 
Al Qaeda
Al Qaeda
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 6
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LTC Stephen F.
The rest of the story....
http://projects.nytimes.com/guantanamo/detainees/680-emad-abdalla-hassan
The rest of the story....
http://projects.nytimes.com/guantanamo/detainees/680-emad-abdalla-hassan
Emad Abdalla Hassan - The Guantánamo Docket
Emad Abdalla Hassan is a 36-year-old citizen of Yemen. As of January 2010, the Guantánamo Review Task Force had recommended him for transfer. He was transferred to Oman on June 13, 2015.
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LTC Stephen F.
There is always a significant lag. From the time we clear them from transfer, we have to find a country that is willing to take them. That's why more than half of the remaining detainees are cleared to leave, but remain. No country is willing to take them.
There is always a significant lag. From the time we clear them from transfer, we have to find a country that is willing to take them. That's why more than half of the remaining detainees are cleared to leave, but remain. No country is willing to take them.
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MAJ (Join to see)
780 men and boys, all of them Muslim, have been imprisoned over time at Guantánamo since January 2002.
86%* were sold to the United States during a time when the U.S. military was offering large bounties for capture; commonly, $5,000 offered per man.
664 men have been transferred (including 9 deaths).
114 men remain detained.
70 of them are from Yemen.
53 have been cleared for release but remain imprisoned.
43 of those who are cleared for release are Yemenis, but they continue to be detained based on or because of their citizenship.
There have been 0 transfers to Yemen since July 2010.
30 men have been designated for indefinite detention without charge or trial.
22 or more were children when taken to the detention camp.
More men (9) have died at Guantánamo than have been convicted (8) by the military commissions.
10 years is the longest hunger strike by a man at Guantánamo. It’s still going.
86%* were sold to the United States during a time when the U.S. military was offering large bounties for capture; commonly, $5,000 offered per man.
664 men have been transferred (including 9 deaths).
114 men remain detained.
70 of them are from Yemen.
53 have been cleared for release but remain imprisoned.
43 of those who are cleared for release are Yemenis, but they continue to be detained based on or because of their citizenship.
There have been 0 transfers to Yemen since July 2010.
30 men have been designated for indefinite detention without charge or trial.
22 or more were children when taken to the detention camp.
More men (9) have died at Guantánamo than have been convicted (8) by the military commissions.
10 years is the longest hunger strike by a man at Guantánamo. It’s still going.
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LTC Stephen F.
MAJ (Join to see) - Thanks for proving additional background details. I know a number of those who have been previously released have returned to the "battlefield." Some have been killed while others are still at large.
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That is very strange it it is true that a Yemeni spent 13 years at GITMO by mistake. I suspect that there is more to this story that can not be released - posthumous tribute to Paul Harvey - the rest of the story
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