The
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secu ...
acknowledges holding one Swedish captive in Guantanamo.
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Mehdi Mohammad Ghezali, the sole Swedish captive in Guantanamo, was repatriated prior to the institution of the
Combatant Status Review Tribunal
The Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRT) were a set of tribunals for confirming whether detainees held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp had been correctly designated as "enemy combatants". The CSRTs were esta ...
s.
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He was the subject of a feature-length documentary that has received worldwide distribution.
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Ghazali was apprehended by Pakistani authorities in August 2009 with a dozen other individuals.
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Pakistani security officials claim the travelers planned to travel to
Miranshah to meet with a Taliban leader. Ghezali says they were traveling to
Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...
to attend a
Tablighi Jamaat conference.
A young Swedish couple,
Munir Awad
Munir Awad ( ar, منير عوض) is a Lebanon-born citizen of Sweden who was convicted of plotting a terrorist attack in Denmark. Munir Awad, and his fiancée were arrested in Kenya in 2007 when Ethiopian forces invaded Somalia and foreigners ...
and
Safia Benaouda, who were visiting
Somalia
Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...
when it was invaded by Kenyan and
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
n forces in 2007, reported being captured by Kenyan soldiers who were led by Americans.
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They reported being held in secret detention centres run with American oversight, and being interrogated by American interrogators. They were set free after several months of
extrajudicial detention
Administrative detention is arrest and detention of individuals by the state without trial. A number of jurisdictions claim that it is done for security reasons. Many countries claim to use administrative detention as a means to combat terrorism ...
.
[
They were later captured with Ghezali in Pakistan.
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swedish Captives In Guantanamo
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Lists of Guantanamo Bay detainees by nationality
Sweden–United States relations