A total of 134 Saudi citizens have been held in the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention camps at its naval base in Cuba since January 2002. Most had been swept up in Afghanistan following the US invasion in the fall of 2001, and they were classified by the US government as enemy combatants.
In addition, a United States citizen, Yaser Esam Hamdi, who was born in Louisiana but moved as a child with his parents to Saudi Arabia, where he also had citizenship, was initially held there. As an American citizen, he was transferred to a military prison brig on the mainland of the United States. His challenge to his detention, without being informed of charges or brought to trial, was a case that reached the United States Supreme Court. In Hamdi v. Rumsfeld (2004), the Supreme Court ruled that detainees who are U.S. citizens must have the rights of due process, and the ability to challenge their enemy combatant status before an impartial authority. After this decision, the government made a deal with Hamdi. After he agreed to renounce his US citizenship and observe travel restrictions, in October 2004 Hamdi was deported to Saudi Arabia. He has returned to his family.
Following the deaths of two Saudi citizens in custody on June 10, 2006, and another on May 30, 2007, which the Department of Defense claimed were due to suicides, the Saudi government put pressure on the United States to release its citizens. Nearly 100 were returned to Saudi Arabia from June 2006 through 2007.[citation needed]
Two Saudi citizens are believed to still be held at the detention camp as of January 2024.[1]
History
Yaser Esam Hamdi, a former US citizen from Saudi Arabia at the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp in April 2002
In January 2002, the United States completed the first phase of construction of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp at its naval base in Cuba. It was designed to hold enemy combatants captured in its war on terror - most taken during action in Afghanistan beginning in the fall of 2001. In total, the US has held 133 Saudi Arabian citizens at Guantanamo. The United States has held a total of 778 detainees in the Guantanamo Bay detention camps at its naval base in Cuba since the camps opened on January 11, 2002. The camp population peaked in 2004 at approximately 660. As of January6,2025[update], 15 detainees remain at Guantanamo Bay.[2]
The first two were among three men who died on June 10, 2006; the circumstances of their deaths have been strongly questioned by numerous sources, including the Saudi government and the men's families. Journalists and the Center for Policy and Research in its 2009 report have noted glaring inconsistencies in the NCIS report of 2008. Based on an account by four former guards at Guantanamo, Scott Horton suggested in 2010 that the men died as a result of torture and government agencies tried to cover this up.[3] Al-Amri died on May 30, 2007, an apparent suicide, according to the United States DOD.[4]
As a result of these deaths, the Saudi government strongly pressured the United States to repatriate its citizens. It developed a reintegration program for former detainees and has worked with them on religious re-education, and reintegrating them into society by arranging for marriages and jobs. From June 2006 and December 2007, a total of 93 Saudi citizens were returned to the country.[5] As of today, two Saudi citizens are still held at the detention camp.[1]
On hunger strike for more than five years. Reportedly suffering health problems caused by the hunger strike. Shalabi has been force fed for many years by means of strapping him forcefully into a restraint chair and pumping liquid nutrients through his nose into his stomach. Shalabi said after enduring this procedure for over four years, it causes him extreme pain and he feels as if he is treated like an animal.[10][11][12][13]
One of 11 former Guantanamo detainees listed on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's most wanted list in February 2009[16]
In 2014, AQAP indicated in a three-part documentary about the group's former deputy leader Said Ali al-Shihri's life and death that al-Shedocky was dead by having the phrase "May Allah accept him" posted next to his name. The phrase is reserved for jihadists who have been killed in battle. The group did not provide any details on al-Shedocky's death.[17]
Following Repatriation, reportedly became al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula's chief theologian and ideologue, responsible for justifying terrorism on religious grounds[35]
Included in the DoD's April 2009 analysis as a "suspected" recidivist due to his September 2008 arrest "for association with terrorist members" and "supporting terrorism."[38]
After transfer from Guantanamo Bay, became a leader of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)[44]
One of 11 former Guantanamo detainees listed on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's most wanted list in February 2009[44] He surrendered to Saudi authorities that same month.[45]
Human rights groups suggest he was captured just because his older brother was a member of al Qaeda.[citation needed]
Saudi rehabilitation
A July 26, 2007, article from Asharq Alawsat described the Care Rehabilitation Center repatriated detainees are held in until they are finally released.[62] According to the article the detainees received special meals, had access to satellite TV, and were able to get day passes.
The Guantanamo Bay detention camp, also known as GTMO, GITMO, or simply Guantanamo Bay, is a United States military prison within Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (NSGB), on the coast of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. It was established in January 2002 by U.S. President George W. Bush to hold terrorism suspects and "illegal enemy combatants" during the Global War on Terrorism following the attacks of September 11, 2001. As of January 2025, at least 780 people from 48 countries have been detained at the camp since its creation, of whom 756 had been transferred elsewhere, 9 died in custody, and 15 remain.
Faiz Mohammed Ahmed Al Kandari is a Kuwaiti citizen who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States' Guantanamo Bay detainment camp in Cuba, from 2002 to 2016. He has never been charged with war crimes.
Mohamed Atiq Awayd Al Harbi is a citizen of Saudi Arabia formerly held in extrajudicial detention in the United States's Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internee Security Number was 333. The US Department of Defense reports that he was born on July 13, 1973, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Mohammed el Gharani is a citizen of Chad and native of Saudi Arabia born in 1986, in Medina. He was one of the juveniles held for seven years at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp where they estimated his age to be 15–16, though Al Jazeera reports his age to have been 14 at the time of his arrest. Human Rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith identified el Gharani as one of a dozen teenage boys held in the adult portion of the prison.
Abdul Rahman Ma'ath Thafir al Amri was a citizen of Saudi Arabia, held in extrajudicial detention as an enemy combatant in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.
Abd al-Salam al-Hilah is a citizen of Yemen who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.
The United States Department of Defense (DOD) had stopped reporting Guantanamo suicide attempts in 2002. In mid-2002 the DoD changed the way they classified suicide attempts, and enumerated them under other acts of "self-injurious behavior".
Yasser Talal al Zahrani was a citizen of Saudi Arabia who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 93. The Department of Defense (DoD) reported that he was born on September 22, 1984, in Saudi Arabia. At the time of his capture, al-Zahrani was initially suspected of being "a front line fighter for the Taliban", though he was later considered "second line". He was also suspected of arranging weapons purchases.
Mani Shaman Turki al-Habardi Al-Utaybi (1976 – June 10, 2006) was a citizen of Saudi Arabia, who was arrested in 2001 in Pakistan and held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba from early 2002. Al-Utaybi died in custody on June 10, 2006. The Department of Defense reported his death and those of two other detainees the same day as suicides.
Ali Abdullah Ahmed, also known as Salah Ahmed al-Salami, was a citizen of Yemen who died whilst being held as an enemy combatant in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 693. Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terror analysts estimated he was born in 1977, in Ibb, Yemen.
Othman Ahmed Othman Al Omairah was a citizen of Saudi Arabia who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, Cuba.
Turki Mash Awi Zayid Al Asiri was a citizen of Saudi Arabia who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States's Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 185. Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts reports that Al Asiri was born on March 8, 1975, in Yaboq, Saudi Arabia.
Nasir Maziyad Abdallah Al Qurayshi Al Subii is a citizen of Saudi Arabia who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 497. American counter-terror analysts estimate he was born in 1983, in Al Arib, Saudi Arabia.
Ayman Saeed Abdullah Batarfi is a Yemeni doctor who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 627.
Khalid Sulaymanjaydh Al Hubayshi is a citizen of Saudi Arabia who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. Al Hubayshi, who acknowledged some jihadist activity, spent three years in Guantanamo, and further time in Saudi Arabia's al-Ha'ir Prison, prior to graduating from the Saudi jihadist rehabilitation program. Several western journalists have interviewed him, and accepted that he appeared to have successfully reintegrated into the mainstream of Saudi society.
Ahmed Zaid Salim Zuhair is a citizen of Saudi Arabia formerly held in extrajudicial detention in the United States's Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.
The Care Rehabilitation Center is a facility in Saudi Arabia intended to re-integrate former jihadists into the mainstream of Saudi culture. The center is located in a former resort complex, complete with swimming pools, and other recreational facilities.
Guantanamo Bay homicide accusations were made regarding the deaths of three prisoners on June 10, 2006, at the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camp for enemy combatants at its naval base in Cuba. Two of the men had been cleared by the military for release. The United States Department of Defense (DOD) claimed their deaths at the time as suicides, although their families and the Saudi government argued against the findings, and numerous journalists have raised questions then and since. The DOD undertook an investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, published in redacted form in 2008.
↑ Jane Wardell (November 2, 2008). "Britain's Brown meets Saudi terrorist suspects". USA Today. Archived from the original on February 17, 2016. Retrieved November 2, 2008. Brown spoke with six men at the facility near the capital Riyadh and shook hands with two inmates who had each spent six years at Guantanamo Bay for alleged links to al-Qaida.
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