USA: Two Pakistani brothers were detained by the US at the Cuban detention facility Guantanamo Bay for 20 years without being given any legal proceedings. Mohammed and Abdul Rabbani assert that they were tortured while under CIA control.
The men were returned to Pakistan, according to a Pentagon statement on Thursday. It is still unknown why they remained at the facility until now given that both had their releases approved for 2021.
The brothers, who are both in their 50s, arrived at Islamabad Airport, according to Pakistani senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan, who gave the confirmation on Friday.
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They were unjustly detained at Guantanamo Bay, he claimed in a tweet. "There were no charges brought against them, no trial, and no court proceedings. Thank you for their release.
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In order to hold foreign civilians there without a trial, the Bush administration used its wartime authority to open the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in 2002. Around 780 people went through the facility, and there were numerous reports of torture, inhumane treatment, and other forms of physical and mental abuse.
The brothers Rabbani were detained by Pakistani authorities in 2002, given over to the CIA in 2004, and then sent to Guantanamo. They were accused of giving Al-Qaeda rudimentary logistical support, a charge they both denied and which was never proven.
In its lengthy account of both men's arrest and detention from 2014, the US Senate noted that Pakistani authorities had mistaken Mohammed, who also went by the name "Ahmed," for a wanted terrorist by the name of Hassan Ghul.
Mohammed was tortured at a CIA "black site" in Afghanistan for more than a year following his arrest. The 2014 report details how he was frequently restrained with his hand extended over his head, a painful situation that prompted him to make an attempt to cut off his own hand.
Rabbani's case attracted attention from around the world, and in 2018, he wrote an opinion piece for the Los Angeles Times in which he complained about being force-fed while on hunger strikes to protest the conditions of his detention and claimed that other prisoners had been sexually assaulted by guards.
According to US President Joe Biden, Guantanamo Bay will be shut down by the time he leaves office, keeping a promise made and broken by his predecessor, President Barack Obama.
32 prisoners are still being held there, of whom 18 are waiting to be transferred to other nations, three are eligible for parole, nine are involved in military tribunals, and two have been found guilty of crimes.