Biden releases 11 prisoners including bin Laden’s ‘bodyguards’ who were captured after 9/11 from Guantanamo Bay
A SLEW of prisoners, including two suspected bodyguards for Osama Bin Laden, has been released from the notorious Guantanamo Bay lockup.
The inmates, all from Yemen, were freed from the Cuban prison on Monday as part of a covert operation that saw them flown to Oman.
Moath Hamza Ahmed al-Alwi, an alleged Al Qaeda fighter, was among those released.
Defense department officials said he worked within Bin Laden’s security team, according to a file from 2016.
Officials believed he “probably trained” with Al Qaeda militants but were unsure if he was involved in combat.
They warned that Alwi still had an extremist mindset based on his statements.
Suhayl Abdul Anam al Sharabi, who is also suspected of being a bodyguard for Bin Laden, has also been released.
Officials claimed al Sharabi may have been involved in an aborted 9/11 hijacking plot in southwest Asia, according to his detainee profile from 2020.
Al Sharabi had been holed up at Gitmo since May 2002.
Al-Alwi and Al-Sharabi were never charged with any crimes.
Sharqawi al-Hajj, who went on hunger strikes, was released after 21 years.
During his time at Gitmo, he was allegedly tortured by the CIA.
It means that there are only 15 prisoners remaining at Gitmo.
There were 40 inmates locked up when Biden assumed the presidency.
At its peak, the detention center held almost 800 prisoners after it was opened in January 2002 – four months after the 9/11 terror attacks.
Three inmates can be transferred, while another three will be able to have their status reviewed.
Two others have been convicted and sentenced.
9/11 timeline of events
On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda operatives coordinated a terrorist attack against the United States, hijacking four commerical airplanes and crashing them into the Twin Towers and Pentagon.
Timeline:
- 5:45 am: Two hijackers get through security in Portland, Maine, and board a flight to Boston, where they will link up with three more hijackers and check in for American Airlines Flight 11 to Los Angeles.
- 7:59 am: American Airlines Flight 11 takes off. The plane is carrying 76 passengers, 11 crew members, and five hijackers.
- 8:15 am: United Airlines Flight 175, carrying 51 passengers, nine crew, and five hijackers, takes off from Boston to Los Angeles.
- 8:20 am: American Airlines Flight 77 takes off from Washington DC Dulles to Los Angeles. The plane is carrying 53 passengers, six crew members, and five hijackers.
- 8:42 am: United Airlines Flight 93 takes off from Newark. The plane is carrying 33 passengers, seven crew members, and four hijackers. The flight was bound for San Francisco.
- 8:46 am: Flight 11 crashes into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
- 9:03 am: Flight 175 hits the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
- 9:36 am: Vice President Dick Cheney is evacuated by Secret Service agents to an undisclosed location.
- 9:37 am: Flight 77 hits the Pentagon building in Washington DC.
- 9:45 am: The US Capitol and White House are both evacuated.
- 9:59 am: The South Tower is the first to collapse after burning for around 56 minutes.
- 10:03 am: United Airlines flight 93 crashes into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The passengers and crew got together and stormed the cockpit of the hijacked plane. All on board are killed.
- 10:28 am: The North Tower collapses.
- 8:30 pm: President George W. Bush addresses the US from the White House regarding the attacks. Almost 3,000 Americans died in the terror attacks.
It’s unknown if Biden plans to free the remaining prisoners before he leaves office on January 20.
In August, his press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, revealed he wanted to close down the lockup.
“That’s still something that the president wants to do and get done,” she said at the time.
“As far as a timeline, I don’t have anything for you here, but obviously, this is something that he wanted to be done under his administration.”
Ex-president Barack Obama also vowed to close the jail during his time in the Oval Office but was ultimately unsuccessful.
The huge prisoner release came just days after the plea deal, which spares the 9/11 masterminds from the death penalty, was put back on the table.
Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, who is thought to be the alleged mastermind behind 9/11, and his accomplices Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi struck a deal in the summer.
Lloyd Austin, the Defense Secretary, tried to revoke the plea deal before it was put back on the table by a military judge.
The ruling has sparked outrage among families affected by 9/11.
Brett Eagleson, the president of 9/11 Justice and a son of a victim, labeled the decision a “travesty,” per Fox News.
” I haven’t heard from a single 9/11 family member that thinks this is a good idea, and the reality here is that everything about 9/11, everything about this 23-year national nightmare that we’ve had to contend with, has been a horrific travesty from the days after 9/11,” he blasted.
Mohammad could plead guilty at a hearing that will take place in days.
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