US transfers Pakistani brothers from Guantanamo Bay

WASHINGTON — Two Pakistani brothers detained without charge at the American military prison in Guantanamo Bay were released to their home country after two decades, the Pentagon said.  

Abdul Rahim Ghulam Rabbani, 55, and Mohammed Ahmed Ghulam Rabbani, 53, were captured in Karachi, Pakistan, in 2002 and held in CIA custody in Afghanistan before they were transferred to the offshore US prison in Cuba in 2004. 

The Department of Defense alleges Abdul Rabbani was an al-Qaeda facilitator who worked directly for self-proclaimed 9/11 planner Khaled Sheikh Mohammed and operated a safe house for the terrorist group in Pakistan. It accuses his younger brother, Mohammed Rabbani, of serving as a financial and travel facilitator for prominent al-Qaeda figures. 

The brothers, who were born in Saudi Arabia and are ethnically Burmese, were not charged with crimes during their nearly 20 years at Guantanamo. They were approved for transfer in 2021, with the interagency Periodic Review Board concluding their detention was no longer necessary “to protect against a continuing significant threat to the national security of the United States.” 

Their departure brings the remaining number of detainees at Guantanamo Bay to 32. At its peak in 2003, the prison held nearly 680 prisoners. 

Shortly after taking office, the Biden administration said it planned to close the controversial detention center, which opened in 2002 and has since been used to house more than 700 foreign inmates suspected of ties to al-Qaeda or the Taliban. Earlier this month, Pakistani detainee Majid Khan was transferred to Belize following the completion of his sentence. 

Intense pushback from Congress prevented former President Barack Obama from making good on a 2008 campaign promise to close Guantanamo, despite an executive order issued on his second day in office. 

Former President Donald Trump signed a 2018 executive order to keep it open, citing the risk of recidivism among the prisoners. Just one detainee was released under his administration — a Saudi man who pleaded guilty to terrorism-related charges and was transferred to Saudi Arabian custody in 2018 to serve out the remainder of his sentence.