Counterterrorism Research Library Yemen Video of Former Gitmo Detainees Swearing Allegiance to Al-Qaida in Yemen
Video of Former Gitmo Detainees Swearing Allegiance to Al-Qaida in Yemen
Last Updated (Monday, 29 November 1999 19:00) Written by Evan Kohlmann Saturday, 31 January 2009 19:00
The NEFA Foundation has obtained and translated a new video from the Al-Qaida Organization in the Arabian Peninsula released on January 23, featuring two former inmates at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba who have returned to senior positions within Al-Qaida. During the video, former Gitmo prisoner no. 372 Said al-Shihri (a.k.a. Abu Sufyan al-Azdi) offered his thanks to supporters in the Muslim world: "may Allah reward you handsomely for me and for my brothers, the prisoners in Guantanamo-for the time when you were a blessing to us… when you stood with us and shared our pains, and prayed for us. And we felt its impact upon us in terms of patience and determination... By Allah, our imprisonment has only increased our persistence and adherence to our principles... Here we are today... [in] the land of Yemen and faith. We pledge our allegiance to our brother Abu Basir Nasir al-Wahishi... so that we will serve as a buttress for the jihad to expand from the [Arabian] Peninsula to Palestine, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, and all the Muslim countries." Later in the video, former Gitmo prisoner no. 333 Mohammed al-Awfi (a.k.a. Shaykh Abul-Hareth al-Awfi) threatened to the camera, "we say to the Christian countries which are preparing for war in Saudi Arabia and which are supporting the Christian war against the Muslims: by Allah, we are surely coming for you! ...And we say to the police and [internal] investigations [system] of the Saudis, and to those who guard the Jews and the Christians: repent to Allah for the deception and treachery that you are culpable for when you guard the entrances to their embassies, their secret temples, their population centers, and their military and intelligence bases. The one who gives fair warning cannot [afterwards] be blameworthy, O' servants of the Dirham and the Dinar."
