Assadullah Haroon Gul was returned to his home country of Afghanistan after the US complied with a court order that ruled his detention unlawful

By MEE staff

Published date: 24 June 2022 19:08 UTC | Last update:1 day 20 hours ago

An Afghan prisoner who was held in US custody for nearly 15 years without charge was released from the Guantanamo Bay detention centre on Friday and returned to his home country of Afghanistan.

Assadullah Haroon Gul, held at Guantanamo under the name Haroon al-Afghani, departed the prison and flew on a US Air Force plane to Qatar, which for years has served as an interlocutor between the Taliban and the US.

Qatari officials then handed him over to Taliban government representatives in Doha, a senior US official told The New York Times.

Soon after this, Afghan government media released photos of Gul meeting with Taliban officials in Qatar.