The New York Times has a very interesting account of Sami al-Hajj, a Sudanese man who spent seven years in Gitmo.

"The journalist, Sami al-Hajj, was working for Al Jazeera as a cameraman when he was stopped by Pakistani forces on the border with Afghanistan in late 2001. The United States military accused Mr. Hajj of, among other things, falsifying documents and delivering money to Chechen rebels, although he was never charged with a crime during his years in custody.

Now, more than a year after his release, Mr. Hajj, a 40-year-old native of Sudan, is back at work at the Arabic satellite news network, leading a new desk devoted to human rights and public liberties. The captive has become the correspondent."

Here is what Al Jazeera said about al-Hajj's arrest and subsequent release in 2008.

"Despite holding a legitimate visa to work for Al Jazeera's Arabic channel in Afghanistan, he was handed to the U.S. military in January 2002 and sent to Guantanamo Bay.

Al-Hajj, who is originally from Sudan, was held as an "enemy combatant" without ever facing trial or charges.

Al-Hajj was never prosecuted at Guantanamo so the U.S. did not make public its full allegations against him.

 

But in a hearing that determined that he was an enemy combatant, U.S. officials alleged that in the 1990s, al-Hajj was an executive assistant at a Qatar-based beverage company that provided support to Muslim fighters in Bosnia and Chechnya."

Al-Hajj is back at work at Al Jazeer. He is a correspondent for the Arabic language channel.

Here is my take:

Bhumika Ghimire