Bin Laden bodyguard’ transferred out of Guantanamo

The Pentagon transferred another Guantanamo Bay detainee on Tuesday, the second in a week as the administration tries to close the military prison before President Obama leaves office.

His attorney, Julia Tarver Mason-Wood, told the review board in April that Shalabi was willing to take part in the Saudi rehabilitation program and hoped later to finish his university degree and work in his brothers’ construction or real estate businesses.

The board also noted the detainee’s “credible desire” to re-integrate into society and participate in the rehabilitation program, but it “acknowledges the detainee’s past terrorist-related activities”. 52 of the remaining detainees are cleared for transfer, and another 48 are eligible for PRB review.

But closing Guantánamo has proved hard for President Barack Obama, who campaigned on the promise of shuttering the facility. The USA said he had been a bodyguard to Osama bin Laden and an associate of other senior al-Qaida figures, including Khalid Sheik Mohammed.

Shalabi’s brother had been transferred out of Guantanamo to Saudi Arabia during George W. Bush’s presidency.

Shalabi was captured in Pakistan in December 2001 and transferred to USA custody. The Pentagon announced the transfer September 17.

With Shalabi’s release, there are now 114 people left at the controversial detention center.

Carter is expected to approve his transfer in the coming weeks, along with one for Ahmed Ould Abdel al-Aziz, a Mauritanian. He has required tube feedings on a daily basis for the past nine years.

The prisoner was sent back to his native home in Saudi Arabia.