Bulgaria Picks Syria-Born Kurd from Guantanamo - Report

Bulgarian security officials have already picked a prisoner, a 38-year-old ethnic Kurd born in Syria, from the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, local media reported, citing an unnamed diplomatic source.

Masum Abda Mohamed is due to arrive in two weeks' time, but his future address will be kept secret, 24 Hours daily reported.

According to the report Masum was detained in January 2002 on the Pakistani border along with three more Arabs. He did not carry any identification documents at the time of the arrest.

Masum spent nearly eight years at the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay on charges of being part of the Osama bin Laden group, fighting in the Tora Bora mountains. The accusation goes on to say that his name featured on a list of people, who had received training in shooting with a sniper and planting explosives.

Masum however argues that throughout his life he has shot no more than seven bullets during his training for a policeman in Syria and has been mistaken for a man, nicknamed Bilal. He claims to have gone to Afghanistan, searching for a wife, as the price there is ten times lower than in Syria, the report says.

Bulgaria decided at the end of last year to accept one detainee from the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, responding positively to Washington request to house prisoners and as a strong gesture of cooperation between Europe and the US.

The Guantanamo prisoner will enjoy a humanitarian status in Bulgaria, which means he will not be put behind bars, but will be treated as a refugee.

Bulgarian officials however have cautioned that Bulgaria's participation would be small, and people who might pose a threat to national security would be not accepted.

The transfer of prisoners is part of a drive by US President Barack Obama to close the widely criticized jail set up by his predecessor, George Bush, to house suspected militants captured abroad.

Obama had promised to shut down the facility within a year of taking office but, because of diplomatic and political obstacles, there are still more than 200 inmates who need to be relocated.

Source: Sofia News Agency.
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