Alleged Bali bombing figure Hambali will not be freed from Guantanamo, US says
A US government review board has rejected the release of the alleged Southeastern Asian terrorist leader known as Hambali from the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The Periodic Review Board said in a short statement released Tuesday that Hambali continues to be a “significant threat to the security of the United States.” It came to the same conclusion in a separate decision on a prisoner from Somalia, Guleed Hassan Ahmed.
The group is blamed for a string of bombings in Indonesia, including the 2002 bombings in Bali that killed 202 people, 11 of them Hong Kong residents. Hambali also is alleged to have had links to al-Qaeda.
The board, which was created by the Obama administration to help it winnow down the prison population at Guantanamo as part of a broader effort to close the detention centre, cited Hambali’s “significant role in major terrorist attacks,” as well as a failure to show remorse as factors in its decision.
“He should not have been brought to Guantanamo 10 years ago, and his continued detention only serves as another opportunity for the Obama administration to avoid accountability for what happened in the CIA torture programme,” the centre said in a statement.
The board said in its decision that it rejected his release, in part, because of his “lack of specificity and credibility” in response to questions but said they would reconsider his case in six months.
There are 60 prisoners left at Guantanamo, including 20 cleared for release.