Two Gitmo detainees win release

WASHINGTON: Two Yemenis who have been held at the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for 17 years as alleged al-Qaeda supporters have won their release, according to newly published Defence Department filings on their cases.

Ali al-Hajj al-Sharqawi and Abd Al Salam Al Hilal were both detained in 2002 as US authorities, citing a "war on terror," combed the world for members of al-Qaeda after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

They were transferred to Guantanamo in 2004, with subsequent records showing Sharqawi had undergone torture while being interrogated by the CIA after he was detained in Pakistan.

Documents released by the Pentagon’s Periodic Review Board, which regularly assesses the cases of the detainees at Guantanamo, showed both had been approved for release on June 8. "The Periodic Review Board, by consensus, determined that continued law of war detention of the detainee is no longer necessary to protect against a continuing significant threat to the security of the United States," filings on both men’s cases said.