A suspect from Gitmo’s top-secret cells
A suspected facilitator for al-Qaeda who was captured more than a decade ago and tortured repeatedly at a secret CIA prison in Thailand, including being waterboarded 83 times, appeared yesterday before a review board to argue for release — his first public appearance since his detention in 2002.
Zayn al-Abidin Muhammed Hussein, known as Abu Zubaydah — the first prisoner in the CIA's detention and interrogation programme and the first to be waterboarded — said through a military officer representing him that he wants to be released from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, so he can be reunited with his family and live a peaceful life.
Zubaydah, a Saudi-born Pales- tinian, has “stated that he has no desire or intent to harm the United States or any other country, and he has repeatedly said that the Islamic State is out of control and has gone too far,” his military representative said.
The review board process was established by the Obama Administration to conduct periodic assessments of the continued detention of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and give them a chance to argue for their release. The inter-agency boards are made up of security officials.
The public session of the periodic review board, which was livestreamed for reporters at the Penta- gon, adjourned after about 15 minutes without Zubaydah speaking.
Another official, arguing for the US Government, said that Zubaydah “has shown a high level of cooperation with the staff at Guantanamo Bay and has served as a cell block leader”. The official said that Zubaydah “probably retains an extremist mindset” and has not espoused his views recently “probably to improve his chances” for repatriation. Zubaydah “has used his time in Guantanamo to hone his organisational skills, assess US custodial and debriefing practices, and solidify his reputation as a leader of his peers, all of which would help him should he choose to re-engage in terrorist activity.”
A decision could be made within 30 days, officials said. A Russian cat has adopted a baby squirrel monkey after he was abandoned by his mother at a zoo. Tatyana Antropova, the director of the zoo in the Siberian city of Tyumen, says she took the newborn monkey, Fyodor, home three weeks ago after his mother refused to carry him on her back. Her 16-yearold cat, Rosinka, accepted the baby. In a month, Fyodor will go back to the zoo to live with other squirrel monkeys.