Gitmo Guard Reunites With Ex-Inmates via Facebook

Posted on Jan 12, 2010

bbc.co.uk

Six years after their release from the Guantánamo Bay prison, former inmates and British citizens Ruhal Ahmed and Shafiq Rasul met up in London with an American soldier, Brandon Neely, who had been one of their guards during their two-year detention at Gitmo. Neely, now a police officer in Texas, contacted Ahmed and Rasul via Facebook last year, and the three agreed to meet in person for a reunion aided by the BBC.  —KA

BBC:

Released in 2004, after being held for two years, Mr Rasul and Mr Ahmed and another friend from Tipton had been captured in Afghanistan on suspicion of links to the Taliban. The three said they were beaten by US troops although this was disputed by the US government at the time.

After all that, the Facebook communique was a shock to Mr Rasul.

[...] “At first I couldn’t believe it. Getting a message from an ex-guard saying that what happened to us in Guantanamo was wrong was surprising more than anything.”

To Mr Neely’s astonishment he received a reply and the pair began an exchange of e-mails. It was at this point that the BBC asked if both sides would be prepared to meet in person.

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