Joe Biden frees another ‘al-Qaeda associate’ from ‘9/11 jail’ Guantanamo Bay:

Joe Biden has freed another suspected terrorist from Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. naval base in Cuba used to jail those believed to pose a major security risk to Americans.

Said bin Brahim bin Umran Bakush was captured in a raid on an al-Qaeda hideout in Pakistan in 2002 in the post 9/11 war on terror. 

He was allegedly an associate of two senior members of the terror group and attended one of its training camps in Afghanistan in the 1990s.

The Algerian national would go on to become an instructor and was accused of being part of a plot to attack the U.S.

The maximum security prison was set up by former president George W. Bush as part of his war in terror.

Bakush, now 72, has been kept at the maximum security prison without charge for more than two decades. 

Earlier on Thursday, the Department of Defense said Bakush’s continued detention ‘was no longer necessary’ and he has been sent home.

But he will still face ‘a comprehensive set of security measures’ that include monitoring, travel restrictions and information-sharing.

His release means he is the tenth prisoner to leave since Joe Biden took office in January 2021.

It follows a decision by a review board who said that he no longer posed a threat to the United States.

There were reports that prisoners who went on hunger strike in protest at their treatment were force-fed via tubes that were stuffed into their nose

It means there are just 30 detainees who remain at Guantanamo, which has been criticized by human rights groups for denying its prisoners a fair trial. 

Former president George W. Bush set up the detention facility in 2002 as part of his administration’s fight against al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups.

Detainees were designated as enemy combatants and denied access to the U.S. justice system. 

Of those prisoners still detained, 16 are eligible for transfers, and three are eligible for a periodic review board, the DoD said in a statement.

It added that nine are involved in ongoing military trials and two have already been convicted.

The Biden administration has repeatedly vowed to shutter Guantanamo for good; a promise Barack Obama failed to deliver on in his two terms in the White House. 

Officials at the DoD praised Algeria and other U.S. allies for agreeing to take their nationals home. 

They said this is ‘a deliberate and thorough process focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately closing the Guantanamo Bay facility.’

An estimated 780 men and boys have been held at the prison since it opened two decades ago.  

The vast majority of those prisoners never stood trial or were even charged with a crime.

Former president Barack Obama, who picked Joe Biden as his vice-president, had said the U.S. would close Guantanamo Bay during his time in office but he failed to follow through on that promise