The U.S. Department of Defense announced on Monday the repatriation of Ridah Bin Saleh al-Yazidi, a Tunisian national and one of the longest-held detainees at the Guantánamo Bay military prison. Yazidi, 59, had been detained at the facility since its opening on January 11, 2002.
Yazidi was among the first detainees sent to Guantánamo under the George W. Bush administration’s “war on terror” following the September 11, 2001, attacks. A leaked 2007 U.S. military assessment alleged that Yazidi was affiliated with al-Qaeda and had been captured in December 2001 near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. U.S. officials claimed he was part of a group fleeing the battle of Tora Bora. Human rights organizations, however, have criticized such assessments as unreliable, citing frequent misclassification and inadequate evidence.
Despite being cleared for transfer as early as 2007 during both the Bush and Obama administrations, Yazidi’s release faced diplomatic hurdles and his own reported resistance to resettlement in countries other than Tunisia.
The Pentagon confirmed that Yazidi’s release followed a “rigorous interagency review process” to ensure compliance with U.S. security and foreign policy interests. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin formally notified Congress of his intent to repatriate Yazidi in January 2024. The Pentagon statement did not elaborate on the specifics of Yazidi’s transfer arrangements in Tunisia, where he was sent.
Yazidi’s release marks the fourth transfer from Guantánamo in December 2024. Earlier in the month, two Malaysian detainees, Mohammed Farik bin Amin and Mohammed Nazir bin Lep, were repatriated after pleading guilty to war crimes. A third detainee was also transferred to Kenya.
Guantánamo Bay, located at a U.S. naval base in southeastern Cuba, was established as a detention facility to interrogate and hold terror suspects after 9/11. At its peak, it housed approximately 800 detainees. Since its inception, the facility has faced international criticism for its indefinite detentions without trial and allegations of torture, including the use of enhanced interrogation techniques condemned by human rights organizations and U.N. experts.
The prison’s population has steadily declined, dropping from 40 detainees at the start of President Joe Biden’s administration to 26 as of December 2024. Of those remaining, 14 have been cleared for transfer, three are undergoing evaluations, seven are being tried in military commissions, and two have been convicted and sentenced.
