Please Write to the Guantánamo Prisoners, Let Them Know They’ve Not Been Forgotten Under President Biden
Campaigners call for the closure of Guantánamo in Washington, D.C. on January 11, 2021 (Photo: Alli Jarrar).
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By Andy Worthington, February 22, 2022
It’s 12 years since two Muslim activist friends in the U.K. initiated a project to get people to write to the Guantánamo prisoners still held at that time — 186 in total — and I adopted it, and have been running it ever since, generally once or twice a year, although this is the first time I’ve asked people to write to the prisoners since May 2020, when I also posted the call-out here on Close Guantánamo.
Under President Biden, there has been little progress in releasing prisoners — just one man has been freed since he took office over a year ago — but there has been significant progress in approving prisoners for release. 15 men have been approved for release by Periodic Review Boards (a parole-type review process established under President Obama) since Joe Biden became president, bringing to 20 the number of men still held who have been approved for release.
This is over half of the 39 men still held, but approving men for release means nothing unless the men are actually freed, and on that front we seem constantly to be awaiting news that these men have finally been granted their freedom. Moreover, although these men now have some sort of future beyond Guantánamo to imagine — after the last five years, in which just two of their fellow prisoners were released — life at Guantánamo is still extraordinarily isolated.
Unlike every other prisoner held elsewhere by the U.S., the men at Guantánamo are not allowed family visits (even if their family members could afford to get to Guantánamo). Their only contact with their families is via limited phone calls and Skype calls, and their only direct contact with the outside world is via visits from their attorneys — and those, of course, ground to a halt with the arrival of Covid.
The approval of 15 men for release in the last year has, however, reduced to just seven the number of men held as "forever prisoners" — those who the PRBs have recommended for ongoing imprisonment without charge or trial — and it is anticipated that further releases will be recommended as the PRBs continue to review the cases of these men throughout 2022.
12 others have been charged in the military commissions, the broken trial system at Guantánamo that is fundamentally incapable of delivering justice. Ten are in seemingly endless pre-trial hearings, while one other is awaiting release, having fulfilled the terms of a plea deal agreed in 2012, and another man is serving a life sentence after a one-sided trial back in 2008, in which he refused to mount a defense.
In the list below, I have divided the remaining 39 prisoners into those approved for release, the "forever prisoners" whose ongoing imprisonment has been approved by Periodic Review Boards, and those charged or tried in the military commissions system. I have also included some additional information — their nationalities, and links to my reports on their cases.
Please note that I have largely kept the spelling used by the U.S. authorities in the "Final Dispositions" of the Guantánamo Review Task Force, which was released through FOIA legislation in June 2013. Even though these names are often inaccurate, they are the names by which the men are officially known in Guantánamo — although, primarily, it should be noted, those held are not referred to by any name at all, but are instead identified solely by their prisoner numbers (ISNs, which stands for "internment serial numbers").
Writing to the prisoners
If you are an Arabic speaker, or speak any other languages spoken by the prisoners besides English, feel free to write in those languages. Do please note that any messages that can be construed as political should be avoided, as they may lead to the letters not making it past the Pentagon’s censors, but be aware that your messages may not get through anyway — although please don’t let that put you off.
When writing to the prisoners please ensure you include their full name and ISN (internment serial number) below (these are the numbers before their names).
Please address all letters to:
Detainee Name
Detainee ISN
U.S. Naval Station
Guantánamo Bay
Washington, D.C. 20355
United States of America
Please also include a return address on the envelope.
UPDATE Sept. 2022: We have being hearing about letters being returned unopened from the prison, and have had advice from an attorney that a better address to use might be:
Name
ISN#
Non-Legal Mail
JTF-GTMO SJA
APO, AE 09522-9998
The 20 prisoners approved for release by high-level government review processes under Presidents Obama, Trump and Biden
- ISN 027 Uthman Abd al-Rahim Muhammad Uthman
A Yemeni, he was approved for release by a PRB in May 2021 - ISN 028 Moath Hamza Ahmed Al-Alwi
A Yemeni, he was approved for release by a PRB in December 2021 - ISN 038 Ridah Bin Saleh Al Yazidi
A Tunisian, he was approved for release by the Guantánamo Review Task Force in January 2010 - ISN 063 Mohamed Mani Ahmad al Kahtani
A Saudi, better known as Mohammed al-Qahtani, he was approved for release by a PRB in February 2022 [NOTE: now freed] - ISN 309 Muieen A Deen Jamal A Deen Abd al Fusal Abd al Sattar
Listed as being from the UAE, although of unknown nationality, he was approved for release by the Guantánamo Review Task Force in January 2010 - ISN 569 Suhayl Abdul Anam al Sharabi
A Yemeni, he was approved for release by a PRB in November 2021 - ISN 682 Abdullah Al Sharbi
A Saudi, also known as Ghassan al-Sharbi, he was approved for release by a PRB in February 2022 - ISN 694 Sufyian Barhoumi
An Algerian, he was approved for release by a PRB in August 2016 [NOTE: now freed] - ISN 841 Said Salih Said Nashir
A Yemeni, he was approved for release by a PRB in October 2020 - ISN 893 Tawfiq Nasir Awad Al-Bihani
A Yemeni, he was approved for release by the Guantánamo Review Task Force in January 2010 - ISN 1017 Omar Mohammed Ali Al-Rammah
A Yemeni, he was approved for release by a PRB in December 2021 - ISN 1094 Saifullah Paracha
A Pakistani, and Guantánamo’s oldest prisoner, he was approved for release by a PRB in May 2021 - ISN 1453 Sanad Al Kazimi
A Yemeni, he was approved for release by a PRB in October 2021 - ISN 1457 Sharqawi Abdu Ali Al Hajj
A Yemeni, he was approved for release by a PRB in June 2021 - ISN 1460 Abdul Rabbani
A Pakistani, he was approved for release by a PRB in May 2021 - ISN 1461 Mohammed Rabbani
A Pakistani, better known as Ahmed Rabbani, he was approved for release by a PRB in October 2021 - ISN 1463 Abd Al-Salam Al-Hilah
A Yemeni, he was approved for release by a PRB in June 2021 - ISN 10023 Guleed Hassan Ahmed
A Somali, he was approved for release by a PRB in November 2021 - ISN 10025 Mohammed Abdul Malik Bajabu
A Kenyan, he was approved for release by a PRB in December 2021 - ISN 3148 Haroon al-Afghani
An Afghan, whose real name is Asadullah Haroon Gul, he was approved for release by a PRB in October 2021 [NOTE: now freed]
The 7 remaining "forever prisoners" whose ongoing imprisonment has been approved by Periodic Review Boards
- ISN 242 Khalid Ahmed Qasim
A Yemeni, he last had his ongoing imprisonment approved by a PRB in December 2021, although his next PRB is scheduled for May 2022 [NOTE: finally approved for release in July 2022] - ISN 685 Said bin Brahim bin Umran Bakush
An Algerian, he is awaiting the decision of his latest PRB in January 2022 [NOTE: finally approved for release in April 2022] - ISN 708 Ismael Ali Faraj Ali Bakush
A Libyan, his next PRB is scheduled for March 2022 [NOTE: finally approved for release in September 2022] - ISN 1456 Hassan Bin Attash
A Saudi, and Guantánamo’s youngest prisoner, he is awaiting the decision of his latest PRB in January 2022 [NOTE: finally approved for release in April 2022] - ISN 10016 Zayn al-Ibidin Muhammed Husayn
A stateless Palestinian, better known as Abu Zubaydah, the first victim of the U.S.'s post-9/11 torture program, he is awaiting the decision of his latest PRB in July 2021 - ISN 10017 Mustafa Faraj Muhammad Masud al-Jadid al-Usaybi
A Libyan, his next PRB is scheduled for June 2022 [NOTE: his imprisonment was upheld in June 2022] - ISN 10029 Muhammad Rahim
An Afghan, he is awaiting the decision of his latest PRB in February 2022 [NOTE: his imprisonment was upheld in April 2022]
The 10 prisoners facing trials
- ISN 10011 Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi
A Saudi, he is one of five men charged in connection with the 9/11 attacks - ISN 10013 Ramzi Bin al-Shibh
A Yemeni, he is one of five men charged in connection with the 9/11 attacks - ISN 10014 Walid Muhammad Salih Bin Attash
A Yemeni, he is one of five men charged in connection with the 9/11 attacks - ISN 10015 Abd al-Rahim Hussein Muhammad Abdah al-Nashiri
A Saudi, he is charged in connection with the attack on the USS Cole in 2000 - ISN 10018 Ammar al-Baluchi
A Pakistani, he is one of five men charged in connection with the 9/11 attacks - ISN 10019 Riduan Isomuddin
An Indonesian, better known as Hambali, he is charged in connection with terrorist attacks in south east Asia - ISN 10021 Mohd Farik Bin Amin
A Malaysian, he is charged in connection with terrorist attacks in south east Asia - ISN 10022 Bashir Bin Lap
A Malaysian, he is charged in connection with terrorist attacks in south east Asia - ISN 10024 Khalid Shaykh Muhammad
A Pakistani, he is one of five men charged in connection with the 9/11 attacks - ISN 10026 Nashwan abd al-Razzaq abd al-Baqi
An Iraqi, he is charged with being an Al-Qaeda commander in Afghanistan [NOTE: he agreed to a plea deal in June 2022, but has not been sentenced yet]
The 1 prisoner approved for release after fulfilling the terms of a plea deal
- ISN 10020 Majid Khan
A Pakistani, he agreed to a plea deal in his military commission trial in 2012, was sentenced in October 2021, and was supposed to have been released after his sentence ended on March 1, 2022
The 1 prisoner serving a life sentence after a trial by military commission
- ISN 039 Ali Hamza al-Bahlul
A Yemeni, he was convicted of involvement with Al-Qaeda after a one-sided trial in 2008, in which he refused to mount a defense, and was given a life sentence
Note: For further information about the prisoners, see my six-part definitive Guantánamo prisoner list (Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five and Part Six).
