> But in Serbia, where he lives, he is still considered a terrorist, and his ambitions have been thwarted. He has found it hard to make friends because people fear associating with him; a tabloid ran a two-page spread calling him a terrorist, and his acquaintances have undergone interrogation just for knowing him.
> He can’t get a job. He can’t leave the country, or drive. He has no healthcare. His relationship with a woman he loved ended after he was denied a travel document to visit her.
Does anyone know how or why Mansoor Adayfi ended up living in Serbia? I would have (naïvely) thought that Guantanamo prisoners would be repatriated to their homes or home countries. Does he have family living in Serbia? I also haven’t paid attention to the political situation in Serbia in recent years but it used to be within the Russian sphere of influence so I’d be surprised that the US would choose Serbia as the site of his new “prison”.
Edit: this report¹ from 2016 explains that
> Transfers have been slowed because many inmates were from war-torn Yemen, and so had to be returned to a third country that can provide rehabilitation and monitoring.
The report also seems to indicate that Serbia volunteered to “assist” the US and that that the Guantanamo detainees were being “transferred” (rather than being released). So, it seems that, despite not having ever been convicted of a crime, the torture survivors are still incarcerated under a form of “house arrest” by a third country – rather than directly by the US military.
The US didn't want to send people back to Yemen due to the "unstable" (=war zone) situation there and fears they'd (re-)join terrorist groups, but rather in places that could do some monitoring and rehabilitation (but not US soil of course!). Serbia offered to take a few prisoners on humanitarian grounds.
> He can’t get a job. He can’t leave the country, or drive. He has no healthcare. His relationship with a woman he loved ended after he was denied a travel document to visit her.
Does anyone know how or why Mansoor Adayfi ended up living in Serbia? I would have (naïvely) thought that Guantanamo prisoners would be repatriated to their homes or home countries. Does he have family living in Serbia? I also haven’t paid attention to the political situation in Serbia in recent years but it used to be within the Russian sphere of influence so I’d be surprised that the US would choose Serbia as the site of his new “prison”.
Edit: this report¹ from 2016 explains that
> Transfers have been slowed because many inmates were from war-torn Yemen, and so had to be returned to a third country that can provide rehabilitation and monitoring.
The report also seems to indicate that Serbia volunteered to “assist” the US and that that the Guantanamo detainees were being “transferred” (rather than being released). So, it seems that, despite not having ever been convicted of a crime, the torture survivors are still incarcerated under a form of “house arrest” by a third country – rather than directly by the US military.
1. https://web.archive.org/web/20160805071557/https://www.abc.n...