[MCCLATCHYDC] An Islamic opposition group in Syria has posted a video of the funeral of a former Guantanamo prisoner, the first known report that one of the 500 or so captives released during the Bush administration joined the Syrian insurgency to topple Bashir al-Assad.The Syrian Islamic Movement posted the video Monday on YouTube. It shows the body of a fallen fighter in his 30s or 40s and a rebel leader, Sheik Abu Ahmad al Muhajir, eulogizing the man as Mohammed al Alami, a Northwest African veteran of the jihad in Afghanistan "who went through hardship for the sake of God in the prison of the Americans in Guantanamo for five years."
U.S. Defense Department officials who help track released Guantanamo detainees had no comment Tuesday.
Aaron Zelin, editor of the jihadology blog from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said the posting from the Aug. 5 funeral confirmed reports of a former Guantanamo prisoner's death in Syria that had been floating around the Internet for weeks.
"We finally have evidence with this video from a credible media outlet within the jihadi media sphere," said Zelin, who had already seen it when a Miami Herald news hound contacted him Tuesday about the overnight posting.
"Obviously there've been cases of people [Guantanamo detainees] who've gone back to continue the fight," he said. "It's not surprising. But it is interesting."
Wednesday morning, a post on the jihadology blog identified the white-haired man delivering the eulogy as a fellow Moroccan who did time as a prisoner at Guantanamo too, Ibrahim Bin Shakran. According to his Guantanamo file, he was born in Casablanca and would be 34 years old today.
Shakran was repatriated to Morocco in July 2004. The Defense Intelligence Agency listed him among "confirmed" former Guantanamo recidivists on a fact sheet released by the Department of Defense in April 7, 2009. He was described as an al-Qaeda recruiter in Iraq.