Youngest Gitmo Detainee, Captured at 14, Goes Free

The youngest detainee at Guantanamo Bay has been freed to his native Chad, Reuters reports. Mohammed El Gharani was seized in Pakistan in 2001 at 14, and accused variously of being an al-Qaeda operative, messenger, and combatant. Five months ago a judge found the evidence against him insufficient. “That it took 7 years and a federal judge to sort this out demonstrates just how failed an experiment Guantanamo Bay is,” Gharani’s lawyer said.

“It is great news that Mohammed has at last been released,” the lawyer continued, “but he will never get back the teenage years that were spent in Guantanamo based on shamefully shoddy intelligence.” Gharani was captured by Pakistani forces in a mosque raid and turned over to the US; but most of the evidence against him seems to have come from unreliable testimony by other detainees. (More Guantanamo Bay stories.)