GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, Dec. 2 (UPI) — A militant who has been held for 13 years without charge in Guantanamo Bay was the victim of mistaken identity due to incomplete analysis by the Department of Defense, newly unclassified documents indicate.
Mustafa Abd-al-Qawi Abd-al-Aziz al-Shamiri, identified as YM-434, was captured in 2002 in Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan. At the time, he was linked to fighting in Bosnia in 1995, in Yemen’s civil war in 1996 and for the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2000 and 2001, including against U.S. forces and allies.
A recently unclassified Guantanamo Detainee Profile by the Defense Department writes that “YM-434 fought in several jihadist theaters and associated with al-Qaida members in Afghanistan.”
But Shamiri’s role with al-Qaida is now in doubt.
“Further analysis of the reporting that supported past judgments that YM-434 was an al-Qaida facilitator, courier, or trainer has revealed inconsistent biographical, descriptive or locational data that now leads us to assess that YM-434 did not hold any of these roles,” the document states.
The profile describes Shamiri, 37, as a mostly well-behaved inmate who has not discussed terrorism, regional conflicts or violence with other inmates who may “facilitate his re-engagement in terrorism.”
“He has been largely compliant with the guard force at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and has conveyed complaints about the guard force through proper channels, but has mostly been uncooperative with interrogators, suggesting that he sees little value in either acting out or cooperating,” the document writes.
The document says Shamiri “probably took explosives training” in Afghanistan and may have stayed in a Yemeni safe house with militants who plotted the USS Colebombing in 2000, but there was no evidence he was part of the attack.
The profile says Shamiri is “supportive of fighting to protect other Muslims, but not of global jihad.”
Shamiri has “expressed no plans for the future apart from a desire to get married and a willingness to work at his family’s shop in Sanaa, Yemen,” the document states. “There are, however, no indications that YM-434’s family members are engaged in terrorist activity.”
A court document submitted by Shamiri’s representatives for a hearing Tuesday said Shamiri is “not a continuing significant threat to the United States of America.”
Shamiri has “remorse for choosing the wrong path early in life,” the document says. “He wants to make a life for himself. He is aware that Yemen is not an option, and he is willing to go to any country that will accept him.”
