Guantanamo Bay prison population hits 16-year low with transfer of Al Qaeda terrorist, al Darbi

The number of foreign prisoners held by the U.S. military at its Guantanamo Bay detention center has dropped to 40 – its lowest since 2002 – after the Trump administration sent a convicted Al Qaeda terrorist to his native Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.

Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed Haza al Darbi, 43, was transferred to the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to serve out the remainder of a 13-year sentence for war crimes, the U.S. Department of Defense said in a statement.

“The United States coordinated with the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to ensure the transfer took place in accordance with established standards for security and humane treatment,” the Pentagon said.

Al Darbi arrived in Saudi Arabia late Wednesday evening, Saudi state security confirmed Thursday, The Associated Press reported from Riyadh, the Middle Eastern nation’s capital. He’s slated to spend another nine years behind bars there prior to ultimately being transferred to a rehabilitation center for convicted extremists, AP reported.

Al Darbi’s departure from the notorious detention center reduces its inmate population to its lowest tally since January 2002, the same month the prison opened its doors to suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda terrorists captured abroad, and constitutes the first detainee transfer completed since President Trump took office in January 2017.

Situated inside a U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the detention center has housed nearly 800 known detainees since opening shortly after the September 11 terrorist attacks. Despite its population steadily decreasing during the last decade, however, Mr. Trump has endorsed keeping the prison open and filling it “with some bad dudes.”

Al Darbi was sent to Guantanamo Bay in August 2002, and he pleaded guilty in 2014 to charges related to an Al Qaeda attack on a French oil tanker. The Obama administration agreed at the time that he would be sent to Saudi Arabia in February 2018, but the Trump administration shuttered the Pentagon’s Office for Guantanamo Closure, delaying Al Darbi’s release from U.S. custody until now.