Washington, January 13 (RHC)-- The Barack Obama administration has repatriated a Saudi prisoner held at Guantánamo since the early days after the prison first opened in 2002.
The transfer of Mohammad al Rahman al Shumrani came on the 14th anniversary of the arrival of the first prisoners at Guantánamo. Shumrani arrived at the U.S. prison on January 16, 2002. Throughout his 14 years there, he was never charged with a crime. His transfer leaves 103 prisoners at Guantánamo.
In related news, former prisoners Ruhal Ahmed and Shaker Aamer were among those who rallied outside the U.S. Embassy in London to call for Guantánamo’s closure.
Shaker Aamer addressed the rally, saying: "We want everybody to know that today we are here not as brothers from Guantánamo, no. It’s truly to bring justice back, to close Guantánamo once and for all."
And another former prisoner, Ruhal Ahmed, told the crowd in from of the U.S. Embassy in London: "It’s been kept open by a country that claims to be the champions of democracy and champions of justice. And it saddens me that it’s open, and I’m out, and I’ve moved on with life, and they haven’t, that they’re still stuck there."
