Senator Kirk: GITMO Detainee Transferred to Sudan Re-emerges as Al Qaeda Leader

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) released the following statement after it was reported that ex-Guantanamo Bay detainee Ibrahim al Qosi, a confidant of Osama bin Laden whom the Administration transferred to Sudan in July 2012 after classifying him as a low-level risk, “has emerged as a prominent voice of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula” and has appeared online in terrorist propaganda videos: 

“The transfer of terror detainee Ibrahim al Qosi from Gitmo to the Sudanese government has resulted in a new frontman for Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and reminds us that no facility in the world can detain terrorists as securely as Guantanamo. The Administration needs to explain why they would transfer al Qosi and two other known terrorists to Sudan, a state sponsor of terror.”

Department of Defense officials have testified that 30 percent of released detainees are known or suspected to have re-joined the fight against Americans. Last month, the Administration released as many as 17 detainees from Guantanamo Bay. In 2015, the Obama Administration quietly announced the release or transfer of 20 detainees, and fewer than 100 prisoners are now left at the facility. 

BACKGROUND: 

Blocking the Transfer of Gitmo Detainees 

• The FY16 omnibus contained Senator Kirk-driven language to block the transfer of Gitmo detainees into the U.S. and prohibit the construction of any facility on American soil to house Gitmo detainees. These Kirk provisions have been included in annual appropriations bills since FY11.
• Senator Kirk wanted this language in order to block the Department of Justice and the Department of Defense from acting on a 2009 Presidential memorandum to relocate detainees to Thomson Correctional Center in Illinois.
• The omnibus also requires notification of any agreement reached between the U.S. and another country regarding the transfer or release of Gitmo detainees.

Additional Kirk Actions

• Senator Kirk led a group of senators in a letter urging the Senate Appropriations Committee to reduce foreign aid to Ghana if the country is unable to hold and monitor the two detainees transferred there and ensure they do not reengage in terrorist activities.
• Senator Kirk co-sponsored S. 165, Detaining Terrorists to Protect America Act of 2015, to prohibit the transfer or release of Gitmo prisoners.
• Senator Kirk requested language in the FY12 CJS Appropriations bill to prohibit the transfer of Guantanamo Bay prisoners.
• In the 112th Congress, Senator Kirk authored S. 209 to prohibit the use of funds to transfer Guantanamo Bay detainees to the U.S.
• In 2011, Senator Kirk wrote Attorney General Eric Holder requesting the reversal of efforts to move Guantanamo Bay prisoners to Thomson, Ill., but to allow the federal government to operate Thomson Correctional Center as a maximum-security federal prison.

• Senator Kirk led Illinois Republicans in the House in successfully inserting language in the FY11 National Defense Authorization Act to block the transfer of Gitmo detainees into the U.S.