Mauritania won’t prosecute Gitmo detainee

NOUAKCHOTT: A Guantanamo Bay detainee from Mauritania released this week by US military authorities has rejoined his family and will not face prosecution in the West African nation, the Mauritanian government said.

Ahmed Ould Abdel Aziz was flown to Mauritania on Wednesday after a review board unanimously approved his release from the prison camp at the US naval base in Cuba where terrorism suspects are detained.

A Pentagon statement announcing his release did not give details about where and when Abdel Aziz was captured or what he was accused of.

However, a 2008 US Defence Department detainee assessment published by Wikileaks said Aziz was captured in June 2002 when Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate raided a suspected al-Qaeda safe house in Karachi.

The document said he swore allegiance to Osama bin Laden in 1999, was a close associate of the al-Qaeda leader’s religious adviser Mahfouz Ould al-Walid and fought on the front lines in Afghanistan.

It said Abdel Aziz was considered high risk “as he is likely to pose a threat to the US, its interests, and allies”, but also said that he had steadfastly denied belonging to alQaeda or any involvement in terrorist operations.

“Detainee had access to information of significant intelligence value, but has been unco-operative with interrogators and remains largely unexploited,” the Defence Department document stated.

The Pentagon said on Thursday 113 detainees remain at Guantanamo. – Reuters

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