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Posted on Sat, Mar. 15, 2008

New 'high-value detainee' arrives at Gitmo

By CAROL ROSENBERG

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba -- Another alleged senior al Qaeda captive -- once
held secretly by the CIA -- has been transferred to this remote Navy base, the military
said Friday.
The arrival of Mohammud Rahim al Afghani, labeled a ''tough, seasoned jihadist'' by CIA
director Gen. Mike V. Hayden, raises to 16 the number of ''high-value detainees'' in U.S.
custody.
SEGREGATED CAMP
A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon, described Afghani as a ''high-level
member of al Qaeda captured in the war on terror.'' He is now being held at a
segregated site called Camp 7.
''Prior to his arrival at Guantánamo, he was held in CIA custody,'' said Gordon, who
referred to the intelligence agency questions about where he was held. He was captured
in 2007.
Gordon said the latest addition to the prison camp's population of about 275 captives
``was a close associate of Osama bin Laden and had ties to al Qaeda organizations
through the Middle East.''
He also called him one of bin Laden's ``most trusted facilitators and procurement
specialists.''
According to Hayden, Afghani sought chemicals for one attack on U.S. forces in
Afghanistan, and tried to recruit individuals with access to American military facilities
there.
Hayden said that in 2001, as the terrorist haven in Afghanistan was collapsing, Rahim
first helped prepare Tora Bora as a hide-out, then was part of the operation as bin Laden
evaded U.S. forces in the remote mountainous region.
FELLOW CAPTIVES
Afghani joins better known former CIA-held prisoners such as Khalid Sheik Mohammed,
the reputed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, and a Palestinian captive called Abu
Zubaydah, who once ran a rival training camp to bin Laden's in Afghanistan.
The CIA has confirmed it subjected those two men and a third to waterboarding while in
its custody, prior to their September 2006 transfer to Pentagon custody.