Sudan says release of Guantanamo detainees not part of normalization with US
May 2, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan has denied that the release of three Sudanese from US Guantanamo prison was part of a deal with the United States Administration.
A Sudanese journalist, Sami al-Haj, and two other Sudanese, Amir Mohamed al-Amir and Walid Mohamed Ali, were arrived on Friday morning after six years of detention without charges. The case of Sami al-Haj was championed by many human rights and media watchdogs.
Mahjoub Fadl Badr, press advisor for the Sudanese presidency, strongly denied that the release of three of the Sudanese detainees in Guantanamo came as part of a deal concluded with the United States to normalize relations between the two countries.
The presidential advisor said in a press conference today that efforts will continue to release the other four Sudanese detainees in Guantanamo: Ibrahim Osman Ibrahim, who holds the figure (036) and Mohamed Nur Osman Idris, who carries the figure (707), both from the Red Sea, Mustapha Ibrahim Mustapha from al-Managuil, who holds a figure (719), And Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud Elkoussy, with the figure (054) from Atbara.
He added that Khartoum government would exert efforts to rehabilitate the released Sudanese detainees from Guantanamo, adding that the Government of National Unity was responsible for integrating them into society and keeping their full rights.
Asked whether the U.S. administration had stipulated that Sami al-Haj should not exercise any journalistic activities, the presidential advisor said the Constitution and the law guarantee the right to work for all Sudanese, and that all released prisoners were exercising their full rights.
Sudan in the past rejected an American request to prevent the movement of released prisoners and the withdrawal of identity papers.
The controversial Guantanamo camp was established after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States to house “war on terror” suspects seized in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Around 800 detainees have passed through the camp since it opened, and some 275 “terror” suspects are still held there.
(ST)