‘Enemy combatant’ held at Guantánamo petitions for release because war is over

Abu Zubaydah has been held without charge for nearly 20 years accused of offences in Afghanistan - a conflict Biden says had ended

Abu Zubaydah, the Guantanamo detainee who was tortured close to death by the CIA and who has been held without charge by the US for nearly 20 years, has petitioned a federal court for his release on grounds that America's wars in Afghanistan and with al-Qaida are over.

In a filing with the US district court in Washington DC, Zubaydah's lawyers argue that recent White House declarations that the armed conflict in Afghanistan is over - combined with the complete destruction of the original al-Qaida group that carried out 9/11 - have removed any remaining legal justification for keeping him captive. The motion calls for his immediate release, describing Zubaydah's treatment over the past two decades as a parade of horribles".