US releases list of Guantanamo detainees

THE US Government has released the most extensive list yet of the hundreds of detainees who have been held at the Guantanamo Bay prison - nearly all labelled enemy combatants, but only a handful of whom have faced formal charges.

In all, 558 people were named in the list provided by the Pentagon in response to a Freedom of Information lawsuit by The Associated Press. They were among the first swept up in the US global war on terrorism for suspected links to al-Qaida or the Taliban.

The list is the first official roster of Guantanamo detainees who passed through the Combatant Status Review Tribunal process in 2004 and 2005 to determine whether they should be deemed “enemy combatants”. Those named are from Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and 39 other countries. Many have been held at the US prison at Guantanamo Bay for more than four years. Some names are familiar, such as David Hicks, a Muslim from Australia charged with fighting US and coalition forces in Afghanistan. He is one of 10 detainees selected to be tried by a military tribunal, on charges of attempted murder, aiding the enemy and conspiracy to commit terrorism.

Hicks allegedly fought for the Taliban, and British authorities contend he admitted undergoing training with British Islamic extremists, including Richard Reid, who was convicted of trying to blow up a trans-Atlantic airliner with a shoe bomb.

Lesser-known detainees on the list include Muhammed al-Qahtani, a Saudi who reportedly was supposed to be the 20th hijacker in the September 11 terror attacks. Although his presence at Guantanamo had been reported, the military had previously declined to confirm it. US authorities denied al-Qahtani entry at Orlando, Florida, before the hijackings. Testimony in the ongoing trial of Zacarias Moussaoui quoted an al-Qaida leader as describing al-Qahtani as the last hijacker for the mission who would “complete the group”.

The list also includes top former Taliban officials such as the ousted regime’s former defence ministry chief of staff, Mullah Mohammed Fazil, and Taliban intelligence officials, Abdul Haq Wasiq and Gholam Ruhani.

In all, the detainees on the list came from 41 countries. The largest number - 132 - came from Saudi Arabia. Afghanistan followed with 125, then Yemen with 107.