It hasn’t taken long for former Guantanamo detainee Jihad Diyab, now in Uruguay after being released in December 2014, to lobby the Argentine government to allow more detainees a place of refuge.
“I will never forget my friends who are still there, and that’s why I’ve come here, to struggle for justice,” 45-year-old Diyab, one of the six detainees released to Uruguay recently, said on Argentine station Radio Madre, Reuters reports. The Syrian national recently traveled from Uruguay to Argentina for the sole purpose of urging the government to accept more prisoners from Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. Naval base in Cuba.
He also interviewed with Barricda, a leftist website in Argentine, according to The Guardian. During the interview, he wore his orange jumpsuit from Guantanamo. (RELATED: US Official Says ISIS Uses Orange Jumpsuits Because Of Guantanamo)
“Before leaving they told me to change and put on a brown suit. I put it over this, because this is symbolic and very important to me,” Diyab stated. “The Americans made us wear this to terrorize the whole world. Thank God that has flipped around now.”
When asked, Diyab refused to divulge details about the torture he experienced.
Before he was captured, Diyab belonged to the Syrian Group, which was a collection of terrorist cells. To avoid authorities, the group fled to Afghanistan, at which point Syria sentenced him to death, presumably for his terrorist activities. According to a Guantanamo Review Task Force analysis in 2008, Diyab was a document forger for the Global Jihad Support Network which he helped to provide international travel for banned extremists.
Uruguay, unlike other countries, hasn’t decided to place any strictures on the former detainees. According to President Jose Mujica, the six detainees can come and go as they please. Diyab said in the interview that he can’t return to Syria because of the tense situation, but failed to mention the fact that he faces a death sentence if he crosses into Syrian territory. He’s hoping his family can be brought to Uruguay.
Based on reports from The Guardian, the Argentinian government did not release a statement in response to Diyab’s interview or requests.
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