Mehdi Ghezali

rdf:langString Mehdi Ghezali

rdf:langString Mehdi Mohammad Ghezali

rdf:langString Stockholm, Sweden

rdf:langString Mehdi Mohammad Ghezali (Arabic: مهدي محمد غزالي), in media previously known as the Cuban-Swede (Swedish: Kubasvensken), is a Swedish citizen of Algerian and Finnish descent who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camp in Cuba between January 2002 and July 2004. Ghezali claimed to have been "physically and mentally tortured" at Guantanamo. Prior to his capture, Ghezali attended a Muslim religious school and mosque in the United Kingdom before travelling to Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and finally ended up in Pakistan where he was captured. Following his release from detention the Swedish government dropped all charges against him for criminal misconduct prior to his capture. In December 2002, Pakistan withdrew all charges against Ghezali in connection with his arrest at the Afghan border. Pakistan suspected him of having participated in a prison uprising in Pakistan where 17 people (including seven prison guards) were killed. Ghezali denied having any knowledge of or participation in the prison uprising. A man bearing Ghezali's passport was one of twelve foreigners Pakistani security officials reported were captured trying to cross into Afghanistan on 28 August 2009. According to the Associated Press Ghezali was "reportedly part of a group of 156 suspected al-Qaeda fighters caught while fleeing Afghanistan's Tora Bora mountains." Ghezali denied any links to al-Qaeda. In July 2012, a day after the Burgas bus bombing Bulgarian media reported that Ghezali was the suicide bomber. Swedish and Bulgarian officials denied that he was involved in any way and investigators ruled him out as a suspect within 48 hours. Ghezali was featured in the documentary Gitmo – The New Rules of War.

rdf:langString No charge