Two Gitmo detainees rehabilitated in Saudi Arabia rejoined the jihad.
Former detainee at Guantanamo Bay, Abu Sufyan al-Azdi al-Shahri (right) and former detainee at Guantanamo Bay, Abu al-Hareth Muhammad al-Oufi appeared in a threatening Al-Qaeda movie this week. Said Ali al-Shihri (or al-Shahri) passed through a Saudi rehabilitation program for former jihadists before resurfacing with Al Qaeda in Yemen. (AFP)
Two former Gitmo detainees appeared in a video on a jihadist website today.
The AFP reported:
Two men released from the US “war on terror” prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba have appeared in a video posted on a jihadist website, the SITE monitoring service reported.
One of the two former inmates, a Saudi man identified as Abu Sufyan al-Azdi al-Shahri, or prisoner number 372, has been elevated to the senior ranks of Al-Qaeda in Yemen, a US counter-terrorism official told AFP.
Three other men appear in the video, including Abu al-Hareth Muhammad al-Oufi, identified as an Al-Qaeda field commander. SITE later said he was prisoner .
A Pentagon spokesman, Commander Jeffrey Gordon, on Saturday declined to confirm the SITE information.
“We remain concerned about ex-Guantanamo detainees who have re-affiliated with terrorist organizations after their departure,” said Gordon.
On the video, al-Shihri is seen sitting with three other men before a flag of the Islamic State of Iraq, the front for Al-Qaeda in Iraq.
“By Allah, imprisonment only increased our persistence in our principles for which we went out, did jihad for, and were imprisoned for,” al-Shihri was quoted as saying.
Al-Shiri was transferred from Guantanamo to Saudi Arabia in 2007, the US counter-terrorism official said.
The other men in the video are identified as Commander Abu Baseer al-Wahayshi and Abu Hureira Qasm al-Rimi (also known as Abu Hureira al-Sana’ani).
The Defense Department has said as many as 61 former Guantanamo detainees — about 11 percent of 520 detainees transferred from the detention center and released — are believed to have returned to the fight.
Jihadica reported that the purpose of the video was to display the union between the Saudi and Yemeni mujahidin. “The seating arrangement (Yemeni-Saudi-Yemeni-Saudi) and mutual praise signalled a happy marriage. The third aim was to humiliate Saudi authorities, who have let al-Shihri and al-Awfi, both former Guantanamo detainees (ISN# 372 and 333 respectively) and graduates of the famous rehabilitation program, slip away.”
Barack Obama wants to close Gitmo.
Previously On Released Gitmo Detainees:
Gitmo Detainees Re-Arrested in Russia
Former Gitmo Prisoner Arrested for Terrorism in Moscow
Three Former Gitmo Detainees Held in Morocco
Former Gitmo Inmate Involved in Russian Terror Attack on Nalchik
Camel-Riding Former Gitmo Detainee Blows Himself Up
Former Gitmo Detainee Re-Arrested in Pakistan
Seven Percent of Gitmo Detainees Return to Battlefield.
Former Club Gitmo Detainee Carries Out Suicide Mission in Iraq
McClatchy: Gitmo Turned Innocent Afghans Into Terrorists
Loony Left Blog “Think Progress” Makes Terrible A$$ of Themselves
Pentagon: 61 Gitmo Grads Returned to Terror
Former “Rehabilitated” Gitmo Detainee Becomes Al-Qaeda Chief
