Tunis: The US government has agreed to free a Tunisian citizen being held at Guantanamo Bay, an official for a London-based group working on behalf of prisoners said on Friday.
Abdullah Bin Omar is among about 80 detainees who have been cleared for release or transfer from the Guantanamo Bay prison by a US military review panel, said Christopher Chang, an official with the group Reprieve.
Bin Omar is one of 12 Tunisian citizens held in Guantanamo, according to documents released by US authorities. Reprieve represents four of them, including Bin Omar. The group received word of the release in a message from Guantanamo authorities, Chang said. The message did not say Bin Omar was innocent, only that he did not represent a threat, according to Chang.
Inmates
During his four-day visit to the North African country, Chang and a lawyer for the organisation visited the families of three other Tunisian detainees - Hesham Sliti, 40, Adel Hakeem, 41, both arrested in Afghanistan in late 2001 and held in Guantanamo Bay since early 2002, and Adel Mabrouk.
The families "are convinced their children who are detained at Guantanamo didn't do anything", Chang told AP. "We, too, are convinced that they are innocent," he said.
