Two Pakistani Citizens Released from Guantanamo After 20 Years

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Facts

  • US officials returned two Pakistani brothers to Pakistan on Thursday after detaining them at the Guantanamo Bay military prison for two decades without charging them.1
  • Abdul and Mohammed Rabbani were arrested by Pakistani authorities in Karachi on suspicion of providing housing and logistical support to al-Qaeda members in 2002, before being transferred into American custody.2
  • The brothers allege they were tortured while in CIA custody before being transferred to Guantanamo Prison. US military records reportedly described the pair as providing little intelligence of value and retracted information shared on the grounds it was obtained using physical abuse.3
  • The brothers are the latest inmates to be released from Guantanamo as the US moves towards emptying and shutting down the prison which, at its peak in 2003, held nearly 600 people whom the US designated as 'terrorists.'3
  • Thirty-two detainees remain at Guantanamo Bay. This includes 18 detainees the Pentagon says are eligible for transfer if stable third-party countries can be found to take them. Nine of them are defendants in military-run tribunals — which are often slow-moving — and the last two have been convicted.4
  • Human Rights activists have praised the repatriation of the brothers whom they say were held without trial, court proceedings, or charges against them. In a memo announcing the release, the Pentagon thanked 'the government of Pakistan and other partners to support ongoing U.S. efforts' to close the facility.5

Sources: 1Associated Press, 2Washington Post, 3Al Jazeera, 4CBS and 5New York Times.

Narratives

  • Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Human rights first. Guantanamo Bay has tarnished the United States' reputation as a global leader in human rights. Indefinite detention harms national security by undermining global counterterrorism campaigns and feeding into the propaganda of terrorist organizations. Guantanamo Bay is a moral and military failure, must be shut down immediately, and all prisoners must finally be given their freedom back.
  • Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Global conflict tracker. After the 9/11 attacks stole the lives of an unprecedented number of Americans, the US justifiably took extreme measures in the new fight against terrorism — a far different war than conflicts of the past. The complex war on terror called for complex solutions — the US has atoned for its handful of sins and has taken steps to prevent further rights violations.