US releases Guantanamo Bay prisoner held since day 1
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Ridah bin Saleh al-Yazidi’s transfer back to Tunisia was approved more than a decade ago. A prisoner who has been held at Guantanamo Bay since the day it opened over 20 years ago has been released, the Pentagon said. Ridah bin Saleh al-Yazidi’s transfer back to Tunisia was approved more than a decade ago, and he was never charged, but authorities have only just confirmed his repatriation.
![[Al-Yazidi was sent to the prison on January 11, 2002]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/31/16/2191277521.jpg)
Al-Yazidi, who was sent to the prison on January 11, 2002, is one of the prisoners pictured kneeling in an iconic photo from the facility. He is the last of a dozen Tunisian men once held at Guantanamo. Of those remaining, seven face active cases. In a statement, the U.S. military said it had worked with authorities in Tunisia for the “responsible transfer” of al-Yazidi.
Al-Yazidi was captured with a group by Pakistani forces near the Afghan border in December 2001, according to the Times, citing a 2007 prison assessment. Some of the group were suspected of being bodyguards to Osama Bin Laden. He was described in the assessment as a dangerous detainee, who was “hostile” to guards at the prison and threw a cup of tea at a U.S. soldier, according to the Times.
By 2010, it was deemed by an Obama administration task force that Al-Yazidi could not be prosecuted for war crimes and was eligible for release to another country. A former State Department staffer who arranged prisoner and detainee transfers told the Times that the delay was due to Tunisia being deemed “too dangerous” or the nation was “uninterested” in taking Al-Yazidi.
