Saudi-American returns to family after renouncing his citizenship

[Hoss68]

Donna Abu-nasr, Associated Press
October 12, 2004

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA -- A Saudi-American captured in Afghanistan, labeled an enemy combatant and held in U.S. solitary confinement for nearly three years without charge, returned to his family Monday after agreeing to forfeit his U.S. citizenship for freedom.

Yaser Esam Hamdi, who was captured in Afghanistan in late 2001 during the U.S. battle against the Taliban regime, landed in Saudi Arabia about noon, said Brig. Gen. Mansour al-Turki, an Interior Ministry spokesman. "His parents were there to receive him," Al-Turki said.

The deal with the U.S. government freeing Hamdi required that he surrender his American citizenship and live in Saudi Arabia for five years. He also had to renounce terrorism and agree not to sue the United States over his imprisonment. Hamdi will never be allowed to travel to Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Pakistan or Syria.


Asharq-al Awsat
Ap

Hamdi's lawyer, Frank Dunham Jr., a federal public defender in Virginia, said he spoke to Hamdi by telephone after his military plane landed. "He didn't fight anybody. He didn't shoot anybody," Dunham said. "He's come through it with a greater appreciation for wisdom of his father, who told him not to go to Afghanistan in the first place."

Hamdi's case led to a U.S. Supreme Court decision limiting the president's powers to indefinitely hold enemy combatants. The court ruled in June that Hamdi and the roughly 550 detainees classified as enemy combatants could not be held indefinitely without charge. That led to the negotiations for Hamdi's release.

Under an agreement with the U.S. Justice Department, Hamdi was not charged with any crime. The release agreement also requires him to notify Saudi officials if he becomes aware of "any planned or executed acts of terrorism."

Hamdi was born in Louisiana in 1980 to Saudi parents and was raised in Saudi Arabia. He was captured on a battlefield in Afghanistan in late 2001. He says that he never fought against the United States and that he had been trying to get out of Afghanistan when he was captured.

Hamdi was taken to the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay then transferred to a Navy brig in Norfolk, Va., when officials realized he was a U.S. citizen. He was later moved to a Navy brig in Charleston, S.C. He spent his captivity in solitary confinement.