American detainees at Guantanamo Bay

The United States Department of Defense acknowledges holding 99 American citizens captured in Afghanistan, during the "war on terror", and one of them was held, for a time, in Guantanamo.^[1] Guantanamo was only supposed to be used to detain non-Americans. But although Yasser Hamdi was born in the US, he was raised in Saudi Arabia, and Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts did not realize he was an American. He was eventually repatriated to Saudi Arabia, provided he agreed to renounce his US citizenship.

John Walker Lindh, "the American Taliban," was recognized as an American citizen right away.^[2] He spent a couple of months in CIA and military custody, but was never held in Guantanamo. He was transferred to the US court system only months after his capture, and received a twenty-year sentence.

Jose Padilla was held without charge, for several years, in the consolidated naval brig in North Carolina. He too was never held in Guantanamo.

References