Officials Admit Man Held in Gitmo for 13 Years Parly Over Mistaken Identity

The US officials have admitted that a man who had spent 13 years in the infamous Guantanamo Bay detention facility was arrested partially due to a case of mistaken identity, media reported Wednesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to The Guardian newspaper, US officials admitted Tuesday that Yemeni Mustafa Aziz Shamiri, 37, was not an al-Qaeda courier and trainer, but a low-level Islamist foot solider.

"Mustafa Abd-al-Qawi Abd-al-Aziz al-Shamiri (YM-434) fought in several jihadist theaters and associated with al-Qaida members in Afghanistan. It was previously assessed that YM-434 also was an al-Qaida facilitator or courier, as well as a trainer, but we now judge that these activities were carried out by other known extremists with names or aliases similar to YM-434’s," the newspaper quoted a newly unclassified report on the issue as saying.

According to the newspaper, Shamiri was an indefinite detainee at the prison and was considered too dangerous to release even though there was no adequate evidence for a trial.

In 2009, US President Barack pledged to close the notorious Cuba-based detention center amid mounting concerns about human rights abuses committed by US personnel against detainees. Most of the detainees at the facility are held without being charged.