RABAT, Morocco, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- Mystery surrounds the release by U.S. authorities in August 2004 of a Moroccan, suspected of being once the bodyguard of Osama bin Laden.
Abdallah Tabarak, a former Moroccan transit worker, was captured in 2001 and taken to the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But then in August 2004, he was suddenly released and now Tabarak lives near Casablanca, almost a free man, reports The Washington Post.
His case comes to light as the Pentagon gets ready for the first of its military tribunals. It points to the mysteries of U.S. priorities in deciding who to keep and who to let go, said the Post.
When captured, Tabarak was suspected of being the bodyguard for the al-Qaida leader, who had worked on bin Laden's farm in Sudan and helped run a gemstone smuggling racket in Afghanistan. But neither the Pentagon nor official in Morocco would publicly offer any explanation why he was released.
Tabarak's attorney says his importance as an al-Qaida figure has been exaggerated.
