Gitmo grad captured in Venezuela

Earlier this year, Jihad Ahmed Mustafa Diyab, a Syrian national of Lebanese birth, and a Gitmo grad went missing from Uruguay where he had been released from the island detention facility just two years ago. At the time of his release from Guantanamo, he was on a hunger strike and medical folks feared he would die if it continued for much longer – that’s probably why the little cry baby was released from Gitmo.

When his disappearance was discovered South American law enforcement, especially the Brazilian police, were worried that he was planning a terrorist attack on the Olympics this year.

Anyway, our buddy, Susan Katz Keating says that he’s been arrested in Venezuela. His bailiwick in the terrorist organization was as a forger, so it’s probably no surprise that he had an Uruguayan passport and identity card when he was picked up – he’s forbidden to travel outside of Uruguay for the time being as a condition of his pardon.

SKK writes of Diyab;

Diyab was a forger who had been sentenced to death in absentia in Syria, “probably for his terrorist activities [there],” the 2008 [Rear Admiral Mark Buzby] memo [made public by Wikileaks] stated.

At the time, Guantanamo authorities believed Diyab to be untrustworthy.

“Detainee’s account [of his activities] is assessed to be only partially truthful,” Buzby wrote in his memo. “Detainee has provided fairly consistent accounts, however, he has feigned physical ailments, refused to repeat his answers, and provided incomplete data.”

Diyab was labelled high risk, and “likely to pose a threat to the US, its interests, and allies,” Buzby wrote.

SKK writes that Diyab was at the Uruguayan embassy just prior to arrest in Caracas requesting help in getting back to Turkey, ostensibly to return to the jihadist battlefield in the region.

But, hey, the President wanted Guantanamo emptied and he won’t be denied.

Category: Terror War