It has finally been confirmed that the two ex-Guantanamo Bay detainees- Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby are now married and living with their wives in Ghana.
The two married in Ghana though not to Ghanaians but a Moroccan and Yemeni which happened within the period they were integrated into the country as part of the arrangements between the US and Ghanaian governments.
One of them is now a father whereas the wife of the other is expected to put to bed anytime soon according to the US Ambassador to Ghana, Robert Jackson.
“Both of them tried to start businesses, I don’t know how successful those businesses were…I can tell you both of them are married now and one has a child. The other is expecting a child imminently. So they are just into a normal life after being in Guantanamo for 16 years. We did a very a very thorough screening to ensure that people who were not potential terrorists”, he revealed to Maxwell Suuk of drumbeatsgh.com.
He also disclosed that the US government has severe ties with the two and whatever happens is between them and the government of Ghana adding that any dealings with the two who have now acquired refugee status ended on January 6, 2018.
“If the government Ghana wishes to relocate them to a third country, they need to discuss that with the two refugees under the international law. We have no role in that and no objection to it. At this point we consider it as a matter between the government of Ghana and the two”, he said.
Meanwhile, veteran Journalist Abdul Malik Kweku Baako has revealed that the two traveled to Ghana on non-citizen ID cards issued by the International Committee of Red Cross regarded as the United Nation Convention travel document.
He added that Muhammad Bin Atef is now married to Morrocan national who is highly pregnant and Salih Al-Dhuby married to a Yemeni he has a child with but said both returning to the US is not an option to be considered or negotiated.