Lists of former Guantanamo Bay detainees alleged to have returned to terrorism

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Detainees upon arrival at Camp X-Ray, January 2002

Semiannually, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) publishes an unclassified "Summary of the Reengagement of Detainees Formerly Held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba" (Reengagement Report). According to ODNI's most recent Reengagement Report,[1] since 2009, when current rules and processes governing transfer of detainees out of Guantanamo were put in place, ODNI assess that 5.1% of detainees – 10 men total, 2 of whom are deceased – are more likely than not to have reengaged in terrorist activities.

Background

The Guantanamo Bay detention camp (Spanish: Centro de detención de Guantánamo) is a United States military prison located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also referred to as Guantánamo, GTMO, and "Gitmo" (/ˈɡɪtmoʊ/), on the coast of Guantánamo Bay in Cuba. Of the 780 people detained there since January 2002 when the military prison first opened after the September 11, 2001 attacks, 731 have been transferred elsewhere, 39 remain there, and 9 have died while in custody.

Once every six months, the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) – in consultation with the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Secretary of Defense – is required to make public an unclassified "Summary of the Reengagement of Detainees Formerly Held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba" (Reengagement Report). ODNI's Reengagement Reports break down all transfers from Guantanamo by Presidential administration under which they occurred, and categorize them according to whether ODNI assesses a former detainee to be "confirmed" or "suspected" of "reengaging" in "terrorist activities" (as those terms are defined in the reports).

The standard for inclusion in the "confirmed" category is "a preponderance of information which identifies a specific former Guantanamo detainee as directly involved in terrorist or insurgent activities." In other words, ODNI considers reengagement "confirmed" if it is more likely than not – i.e., there is at least a 51% chance – that a former detainee is directly involved in terrorist activities. For inclusion in the "suspected" category, ODNI need only find that there is "[p]lausible but unverified or single-source reporting indicating a specific former GTMO detainee is directly involved in terrorist or insurgent activities."

DNI's most recent Reengagement Report was declassified in December 2020 and made public on April 5, 2021.[1] As of this report, 729 detainees had been transferred out of Guantanamo since the prison opened in 2002. According to ODNI, 125 of them were "confirmed of reengaging" (14.3%) and 104 "suspected of reengaging" (17.1%). However, the vast majority of those transfers (115 of them) occurred pre-2009, before current rules and processes governing transfers were put in place. After 2009—when transfers have been subject to the rules and processes that remain in place today—the reengagement rates have dropped significantly, to 5.1% ("confirmed of reengaging") and 10.2% (suspected of reengaging"), respectively. The 5.1% statistic represents 10 men total, 2 of whom are deceased.

History

As early as 2004, the US government claimed that detainees released from Guantanamo Bay detainment camp had returned to the battlefield.[2] Initially, government spokesmen claimed relatively small numbers of former Guantanamo captives had returned to the battlefield. In a press briefing on March 6, 2007, a "Senior Defense official" commented:[3]

I can tell you that we have confirmed 12 individuals have returned to the fight, and we have strong evidence that about another dozen have returned to the fight.

On Monday, May 14, 2007, Pentagon officials Joseph Benkert and Jeffrey Gordon repeated the assertion that thirty former captives had returned to the battlefield in testimony before the United States Congress.[4] They identified six of the thirty by name.[5] They offered the names of the three men previously identified: "Mullah Shahzada"; "Maulavi Abdul Ghaffar"; and Abdullah Mahsud. They tied "Mullah Shahzada" to Mohamed Yusif Yaqub, a Guantanamo captive who was listed on the official list.[6] The other three names they offered were: Mohammed Ismail; Abdul Rahman Noor; and Mohammed Nayim Farouq.[5]

On July 12, 2007, the Department of Defense placed an additional page on their site, entitled: "Former Guantanamo Detainees who have returned to the fight".[7] This list contained one additional name, not on the list released on May 14, 2007, for a total of seven names. The new name was Ruslan Odizhev, a Russian who Russian police reported died while resisting arrest on June 27, 2007.[8]

On 13 January 2009, the Pentagon said that 18 former detainees are confirmed to have participated in attacks, and 43 are suspected to have been involved in attacks.[9] A spokesman said evidence of someone being "confirmed" could include fingerprints, a conclusive photograph or "well-corroborated intelligence reporting." He said the Pentagon would not discuss how the statistics were derived because of security concerns. National security expert and CNN analyst Peter Bergen, stated that some of those "suspected" to have returned to terrorism are so categorized because they publicly made anti-American statements, "something that's not surprising if you've been locked up in a U.S. prison camp for several years." If all on the "confirmed" list have indeed returned to the battlefield, that would amount to 4 percent of the detainees who have been released at that time.[10]

According to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, through December 2020, 14.5% of detainees transferred since 2002 are "confirmed of reengaging" in terrorist activities and 17.1% "suspected of reengaging" (see background section above for definitions of these terms and additional explanation). Since 2009—when current rules and processes governing transfers were implemented—the reengagement rates assessed by ODNI have dropped significantly, to 5.1% ("confirmed of reengaging") and 10.2% (suspected of reengaging"), respectively. The 5.1% statistic represents 10 men total, 2 of whom are deceased.

Lists of alleged returnees

2006 list

92 Abdullah Mahsud
363 Maulvi Abdul Ghaffar
367 Mohamed Yusif Yaqub
582 Abdul Rahman Noor
633 Mohammed Nayim Farouq
930 Mohammed Ismail

2007 list

reported
isn		 name In July 2007
Press Release		 Disposition Citizenship Country of
Act
92 Said Mohammed Alim Shah Yes Killed Afghanistan Afghanistan
203 Ravil Shafeyavich Gumarov No Arrest Russia Russia
69 Ruslan Anatolivich Odijev Yes Arrest Russia Russia
220 Abdallah Saleh Ali Al Ajmi No Killed Kuwait Iraq[11]
294 Mohammed Mizouz No Arrest Morocco Morocco
297 Ibrahim Shafir Sen No Arrest Turkey Turkey
363 Shai Jahn Ghafoor Yes Killed Afghanistan Afghanistan
587[12] Mohammed Yusif Yaqub Yes Killed Afghanistan Afghanistan
587[12] Ibrahim Bin Shakaran No Arrest Morocco Morocco
633 Mohammed Nayim Farouq Yes At Large Afghanistan Afghanistan
674 Timur Ravilich Ishmurat No Arrest Russia Russia
930 Mohammed Ismail Yes Capture Afghanistan Afghanistan

2008 list

Names of Guantanamo captives who are alleged to have returned to the battlefield
ID Name Notes
363 Maulvi Abdul Ghaffar AKA Shai Jahn Ghafoor
  • Had been a senior Taliban military leader prior to capture.
  • Captured in Afghanistan in December 2001, was one of the twenty-three prisoners released from Camp Delta in late January 2004. After his release, he joined the remnants of the Taliban and was killed in a gunfight on September 26, 2004.[13][14][15][16][17]
  • The official list of Guantanamo captives included two men with the same name, who remained in custody years after Maulvi Abdul Ghaffar had been reported to have been released, and killed in combat.[6]
92 Abdullah Mehsud
  • Reportedly captured in Afghanistan in December 2001 after surrendering to Abdul Rashid Dostum.
  • That he was ever been captured, and sent to Guantanamo has been challenged.[18]
  • Allegedly masterminded the kidnapping of two Chinese engineers in Pakistan's South Waziristan region.
  • Allegedly returning to his position as an Al-Qaeda field commander.[15] One of the Chinese engineers died during a rescue mission, the other was rescued.[19]
  • Mehsud also claimed responsibility for the bombing at Islamabad's Marriott Hotel in October 2004. The blast injured seven people, including a U.S. diplomat, two Italians and the Pakistani prime minister's chief security officer. Mehsud was subsequently reported to have been killed in combat.
203 Ravil Shafeyavich Gumarov
  • Reported to have had military training in Chechnya.[20]
  • Convicted of bombing a natural gas pipeline on May 9, 2006.[21]
  • Sentenced to 13 years.[22]
211 Ruslan Anatolivich Odijev
  • Repatriated to Russian custody, cleared, then released.[23]
294 Mohammed Bin Ahmad Mizouz
  • One of the first 200 captives to be repatriated.[24][25]
  • Reported seeing guards urinate on the Koran.[25]
  • Reported being tortured while in US custody, reported that all the techniques used in Abu Ghraib were first used on captives like him in Bagram.[25]
  • Convicted in September 2007 of recruiting fighters to send to Iraq.[22]
297 Ibrahim Shafir Sen
367 Mohammed Yusif Yaqub
aka
Mullah Shahzada
  • Reports of the release, return to the battlefield, and subsequent death in combat of Mullah Shahzada, while reported in the press, is always attributed to unnamed insiders.[27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34]
  • The official list of Guantanamo captives included a man the same name, Haji Shahzada who remained in custody years after the stories that Mullah Shahzada had been reported to have been released, and killed in combat. Haji Shahzada was one of the 38 captives whose Combatant Status Review Tribunal determined they had not been an enemy combatant in the first place.
  • On Monday, May 14, 2007, Pentagon officials, for the first time, tied the reports that "Mullah Shahzada" had returned to the battlefield to the name of one of the captives on the official list of Guantanamo captives, Mohammed Yusif Yaqub.[5] According to Reuters summary of their testimony:
"Released May 8, 2003, he assumed control of Taliban operations in Southern Afghanistan and died fighting U.S. forces on May 7, 2004."
587 Ibrahim Bin Shakaran

The Defense Intelligence Agency asserted Ibrahim Bin Shakaran had "returned to terrorism". The DIA reported:

930 Mohammed Ismail
  • First identified as a former captive who had returned to the battlefield in Testimony before Congress on Monday May 14, 2007.[5] According to Reuters summary of their testimony:
"Released from Guantanamo in early 2004, he was recaptured four months later in May while participating in an attack on U.S. forces near Kandahar. When captured, Ismail carried a letter confirming his status as a Taliban member in good standing."
582 Abdul Rahman Noor
  • First identified as a former captive who had returned to the battlefield in Testimony before Congress on Monday May 14, 2007.[5] According to Reuters summary of their testimony:
"Released in July 2003, he has since participated in fighting against U.S. forces near Kandahar. After his release, he was identified as the man described in an October 7, 2001, interview with Al Jazeera television as the "deputy defense minister of the Taliban."
633 Mohammed Nayim Farouq
  • First identified as a former captive who had returned to the battlefield in Testimony before Congress on Monday, May 14, 2007.[5] According to Reuters summary of their testimony:
Released from U.S. custody in July 2003, he quickly renewed his association with Taliban and al Qaeda members and has since become "reinvolved in anti-coalition militant activity."
930 Mohammed Ismail Agha
  • One of the three children who was held for a two years, in Camp Iguana, and released on January 29, 2004. He was reported by the Pentagon as having been captured in an attack on U.S. forces four months later.[35]

2009 reports

Department of Defense spokesmen claimed in January 2009 that at least 61 former captives had returned to the fight. But they did not publish any of the men's names.

Saudi list

On February 3, 2009, the government of Saudi Arabia published a list of 85 most wanted suspected terrorists that included two former Guantanamo captives who had appeared in an alarming video, and nine other former captives.

BBC report

On February 18, 2009, the BBC News reported that UK officials had told them that an Afghan former captive repatriated in the Spring of 2008 had risen to a high-ranking position in the Taliban, in Pakistan, following his return. The BBC reports they had been told his name was Mullah Abdul Kayum Sakir. The USA did not list any captives with names close to Abdul Kayum Sakir. The five captives repatriated on April 30, 2008, are: Nasrullah, Esmatulla, Rahmatullah Sangaryar, Sahib Rohullah Wakil, and Abdullah Mohammad Khan.

Department of Defense

In March 2009, U.S. officials revealed that Abdullah Ghulam Rasoul (detainee #8) is now leading the Taliban's operations in southern Afghanistan.[36][37]

The May 2009 "one in seven" claims

On May 21, 2009, Elizabeth Bumiller, writing in The New York Times, reported that they had secured access to an unreleased Pentagon report that asserted "one in seven" former captives "are engaged in terrorism or militant activity."[38][39][40] According to The New York Times Pentagon officials had asserted 74 former captives had returned to terrorism, and had named 29 individuals, including 16 previously unpublished ones. The New York Times chose to publish only 15 of those 16 names because of discrepancies concerning the 16th.[38]

On June 6, 2009 Clark Hoyt, whose byline lists him as The New York Times "public editor" wrote an apology to The New York Times readers for Bumiller's article.[41][42][43]

Fifteen former captives as reported by the New York Times[39]
isn name transfer
date		 nation notes
8 Abdullah Gulam Rasoul 2007-12-12 Afghanistan
  • In 2007 he was transferred to the American wing of the Pul-e-Charkhi prison.[44]
  • A false name used by Abdul Qayyum Zakir, a senior commander in the Taliban.
  • British officials believed Rasoul became the Taliban's operations commander in southern Afghanistan soon after his release and blamed him for masterminding an increase in roadside attacks against British and American troops.[44]
  • The New York Times reported that Rasoul led a December 2008-January 2009 delegation to the Pakistani Taliban to convince them to refocus their efforts away from the Pakistani government and towards the American-led forces in Afghanistan.[45]
23 Isa Khan[39] 2004-09-17 Pakistan
25 Majeed Abdullah al Joudi[39] 2007-02-20 Saudi Arabia
67 Abd al Razaq Abdallah Hamid Ibrahim al Sharikh[39] 2007-09-05 Saudi Arabia
82 Rasul Kudayev 2004-02-27 Russia
  • Was an athlete who fled persecution in Russia when he was a teenager.
  • Was captured in 2006 following an attack on Russian government facilities in October 2005.[46][47][48][49][50]
  • His family reports that his stay in Afghanistan and Guantanamo had left him with serious health problems, and that he was at home, under his mother's care, at the time of the attack.
92
154 Mazin Salih Musaid al Awfi[39] 2007-07-15 Saudi Arabia
159 Abdullah al Noaimi 2005-11-04 Bahrain
  • Knew the three men who died in the camp on June 10, 2006.[52] He expressed skepticism about the official version, and questioned the credibility of the allegations against them.
  • In October 2008 Saudi authorities apprehended and detained al Noaimi when he was on a visit to Saudi Arabia.[53]
  • Saudi authorities continue to hold him—without charge.[54][55][56]
203 Ravil Shafeyavich Gumarov[40] Russia
209 Almasm Rabilavich Sharipov[40] Russia
211 Ruslan Odijev[40] Russia
230 Humud Dakhil Humud Said al Jadan[39] 2007-07-15 Saudi Arabia
231 Abdulhadi Abdallah Ibrahim al Sharakh[39] 2007-09-05 Saudi Arabia
294 Mohammed bin Ahmad Mizouz July 2004 Morocco
333 Muhammad al Awfi 2007-11-09 Saudi Arabia
372 Said Ali al Shihri 2007-11-09 Saudi Arabia
546 Muhibullah[39] 2005-07-19 Afghanistan
571 Saad Madi Saad al Azmi 2005-11-02 Kuwait
  • Faced charges in Kuwait following his repatriation on November 4, 2005.[65] The charges were based on evidence supplied by the USA that he had ties to Al Wafa.[66][67] The Kuwaiti court acquitted Al Azmi.
587 Ibrahim bin Shakaran July 2004 Morocco
674 Timur Ravilich Ishmurat 2004-02-17 Russia
  • Arrested in Russia in March 2006.[68]
798 Haji Sahib Rohullah Wakil[39] 2008-04-30 Afghanistan
  • Member of Jama'at-ud-Da'wah Pakistan, a group created in 1985 to fight the Soviet occupation. Although designated a terrorist organization in 2008 by the State Department, it is not on any of the official U.S. watchlists as it has worked as a charity with no military wing since 1991.
  • Commander of Kunar anti-Taliban forces.
  • In 2002, represented Kunar Province in the Grand Assembly.
  • Arrested in August 2002 after an informer claimed he had helped members of al Qaida escape from Kunar. The Afghanistan government believes the head of the rival Mushwani tribe had turned Wakil in because the Mushwani tribe opposed a poppy eradication program that Wakil had begun in Kunar.
  • Released in April 2008. Upon his release Wakil met with President Hamid Karzai who apologized for his detention.
  • Currently a tribal elder representing Kunar province in the Afghanistan government.[69]
1010 Nahir Shah[39] 2007-11-02 Afghanistan

DoD list of May 27, 2009

Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Partial Listing of Former GTMO Detainees Who have Reengaged in Terrorism