The US flag at the US Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Photo / Getty Images
A man held for 13 years at Guantanamo Bay appears to have been a victim of mistaken identity, as US officials admitted they had confused him with al-Qaeda operatives with similar names.
When Mustafa al-Aziz al-Shamiri, a Yemeni national, was transported from Afghanistan to the US detention facility in Cuba,
his captors believed he was a courier and trainer for al-Qaeda.
They have now determined he was a low-level Islamist fighter, but not part of the al-Qaeda chain of command.
Al-Shamiri, one of 107 detainees remaining at the detention camp, appeared on Wednesday before a panel tasked with determining whether he should be released.
A profile of al-Shamiri describes the role the Pentagon believed he had played within al-Qaeda, but concedes "we now judge that these activities were carried out by other known extremists with names or aliases similar to (al-Shamiri's)".
