A cameraman from the al-Jazeera television station has been freed from US detention in Guantanamo Bay, the channel says. Sami al-Hajj had been in US custody for more than six years. Mr Hajj was freed from Guantanamo and was being flown to Sudan, al-Jazeera said, quoting unnamed sources. The channel said that he was expected to arrive in Khartoum shortly.
"We are in a state of high expectation and we are overwhelmed with joy," said Wadah Khanfar, managing director of al-Jazeera's Arabic service.
Mr Hajj was working as a cameraman for al-Jazeera when he was arrested by Pakistani troops near the Afghan border in December 2001 and later handed over to the US military. Sami al-Hajj, who was 38 at the time, was accused of links to militant groups but has not been charged. The US military alleged that he'd been involved in funding Muslim fighters in Bosnia and Chechnya in the 1990s.
He denied the allegations against him and his employers at al-Jazeera say the charges are politically motivated. Mr Hajj began a hunger strike at the beginning of 2007. His lawyers said he'd been force-fed on several occasions. |