Detainee Al-Kaabi had nothing to do with Afghanistan, says cousin

JEDDAH, 24 December 2002 — Jameel Ali Al-Kaabi, a Saudi languishing in the Guantanamo detention center, was suffering from mental disorders before he went to Pakistan in 2000.

He went to Pakistan to seek medical treatment for his right eye, which lost vision when somebody hit him in the face. His relatives swear that he had no link with Al-Qaeda, Afghan Arabs or anyone fighting there, Al-Madinah newspaper quoted his cousin Rashid Al-Kaabi as saying.

Jameel, 31, who is married with two children, was under treatment for serious mental disorders. His medical record shows that he was admitted to the Taif mental hospital when his illness became very serious.

He went to Pakistan following the advice of doctors to have his eye treated there after unsuccessful treatments in some local hospitals. He went there in 2000 for the eye operation and remained there due to some unforeseen delay in the operation though his father used to insist on his early return. The last the relatives heard from him was on Sept. 7, 2001 when he said he had a successful eye surgery and that he would return home shortly.

“Since then we did not hear from Jameel until last February when we received a letter from the Interior Ministry carrying the shocking news that he was among the detainees in Guantanamo and that he was in good health,” said Rashid.

However, in June the family received a letter from Jameel saying he had no health problems and that he hoped to return to the Kingdom soon, the cousin said.

Rashid denied emphatically that Jameel was interested in or related to Al-Qaeda or with Afghanistan for that matter. His family looked forward to his immediate return.

The cousin also said that the family was currently exploring the possibility of filing a case against the US government for detaining him for over one year with no apparent charges causing serious mental agony for members of his family.