He took an eight year break. He couldn’t refuse the rape Fatwa.
A former Guantanamo detainee who was transferred to his home country of Bahrain in 2005 has reportedly joined the jihad in Syria. According to an article in the Bahrain Mirror on Dec. 28, Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al Khalifah has “return[ed] to jihad” by joining the Syrian mujahideen.
Citing undisclosed sources, the Bahrain Mirror reported that Sheikh Salman was not appropriately rehabilitated following his release from Guantanamo and was “alienated” from his family. This purportedly explains his trip to Syria, where he has “joined the fight.”
But Sheikh Salman first traveled to the Taliban’s Afghanistan prior to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, indicating that he has long been drawn to the jihadist cause.
Sheikh Ibrahim bin Mohammad al-Khalifa, Sheikh Salman’s father, was quoted in 2002 as saying that his son was detained by the Americans because he was “accused of sympathizing with al Qaeda.”
In a written statement to his combatant review status tribunal at Guantanamo, Sheikh Salman denied any affiliation with al Qaeda or the Taliban. “I am not part of the Taliban or al Qaeda,” he wrote. “I am just a student looking to study and I have no involvement with fighting or combatant [sic], or al Qaeda, or Taliban.” In a brief letter to American officials, his mother claimed that he traveled to Afghanistan to serve a charity.
Leaked Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) threat assessment
According to a leaked JTF-GTMO threat assessment dated May 13, 2005, military officials and analysts at Guantanamo concluded that Sheikh Salman did have ties to the Taliban and al Qaeda. But in that same memo, JTF-GTMO described the Bahraini as a “possible jihadist” and recommended that he be transferred to another country for continued detention. In a previous assessment, JTF-GTMO advised that he be retained in the Defense Department’s custody.
Sheikh Salman “is a prince in the Bahraini royal family” and “related to the current ruler of Bahrain, through a shared great-grandfather,” the JTF-GTMO file reads.
“From September 1999 until April 2000,” Sheikh Salman “studied religion” in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The Bahrain Mirror reports that Sheikh Salman studied sharia at a branch of the Imam Muhammad Bin Saud University. The publication reports that this college “is considered the capital of Salafi religious extremism in Saudi Arabia.”