8+ Years in Gitmo Without Charges: Detainee Dies of ‘Exercise’

Detainee 'Met' With Osama bin Laden Three Times, US Alleged

In what appears to be the closest thing the Obama Administration has to an end-game strategy for actually closing Guantanamo Bay anymore, long-standing detainee Awal Gul was reported to have died today of a possible heart attack after “exercising.”

Officials said they found him collapsed in the shower and that he was found “unresponsive” when medical personal arrived on the scene. He is the seventh captive to die in US custody at Guantanamo Bay.

As with many other detainees at the facility, the US claimed to have considerable evidence against Gul, but never attempted to charge him with any crime and, nine years after his capture and eight and a half years into his stay at Guantanamo Bay, he died a prisoner, but an uncharged one.

Gul was apparently the commander of an Afghan government supply base when the US invaded in 2001, and had been the commander there for several years. The US also alleges that he “met” with Osama bin Laden at least three times.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.