JUBAIL, 17 October 2004 — “I am in Pakistan doing some humanitarian work. Please tell my father and everyone that I am fine, not to worry, and that I will be back before the summer is over,” said Yasser Esam Himdi (Himdi is the correct spelling and not Hamdi as has been written) to his uncle on the telephone. That was the last anyone from his family heard from him until his name and picture appeared on television screens and in newspapers around the world.

Yasser left home in the summer of 2001, telling his parents — his father is a petroleum engineer — that he was going to a summer session at the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Mineral Resources where he was a marketing student. Instead of attending the summer session, he applied for, and was issued, a new Saudi Arabian passport as he had turned 21 and no longer needed his father’s permission to travel. He used the passport to travel to Pakistan and then to Afghanistan where he was prior to Sept. 11.

The day he left, his father received a telephone call from a friend of Yasser’s telling him, “Your son left for Pakistan today.” Incredulous, his father drove 120 km to King Fahd International Airport in Dammam to check with the passport department himself. “It was true. They said my son had left for Pakistan,” Esam Himdi told Arab News.

When Yasser arrived, he called his mother’s brother and told him that he was in Pakistan where he would stay for the remainder of the summer doing volunteer work. His uncle tried to convince him to return to Saudi Arabia but could not.

“I was going to go to Pakistan to find him but the rest of my family wanted me here by their side,” Esam Himdi told Arab News. “Yasser’s uncle went to Pakistan to look for him but had no luck. He contacted the Saudi Embassy there but was unsuccessful,” Esam continued.

“My son had not traveled outside the Kingdom since he was three years old. I think he wanted to try new things. It’s possible that he wanted to show everyone that he was a man in that he was going to do relief work in a poor country. He knew he would never have our approval and decided to go without asking. At the time, we were very angry with him,” Esam said. When asked if Yasser apologized, his father said, “Yes, yes, yes. Even in his letter. He knew he went without our permission. He violated a very important Islamic edict which states that in order to gain the satisfaction of Allah, a Muslim must first gain the satisfaction of his parents,” Esam said.

While in Pakistan, however, Yasser decided to go to Afghanistan. The circumstances surrounding his decision remain unclear and Esam avoided discussing the subject. Yasser’s reasons for going to Afghanistan, he states, were “to learn more about Islam, and to help other Muslims. He said: “The details behind my entry into Afghanistan, I will leave for a book I may possibly write.”

His father added: “The authorities here have not conducted an interview with Yasser yet and we must wait until we have spoken with them.”

According to Michael H. Mobbs, an adviser with the US Department of Defense, Yasser was “affiliated with a Taleban military unit and received weapons training” and “stayed with the unit after the United States began military operations against Al-Qaeda and the Taleban.” The statement added that Yasser’s military unit surrendered to Northern Alliance forces and that Yasser was ordered to give up his AK-47 assault rifle.

In response to that, Yasser said, “I was in Pakistan and went to Afghanistan for humanitarian reasons. While I was there, I became disillusioned with their interpretation of Islam and wanted to leave but that happened to be at the same time that the borders were closed. I was simply stuck in Afghanistan.”

Regarding the Defense Department’s allegations that Yasser was armed, Esam said, “He was trapped. There was a war going on and everyone was armed. Do they expect him to walk around without a weapon? Don’t forget that Afghanistan had been engaged in a war for many many years, so weapons were a part of everyday life.”

Esam maintains that his son was simply caught in the circumstances following 9/11.

“My son was at the wrong place at the wrong time,” he said.

When Yasser was first arrested by the Northern Alliance in November 2001, he was kept in a filthy underground prison until he was transferred to Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

He remained there for four months until it was discovered that he was an American citizen, having been born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

As a US citizen, he was no longer deemed an enemy combatant and was eventually sent to US Navy brigs in Virginia and Charleston, South Carolina.

“The darkest moment for me was when they moved me to the US from Guantanamo to live alone in solitary confinement. That was the toughest time for me, the first few months. It was very boring,” Yasser said. “I asked them from the beginning if the American citizenship was what was keeping me here, then why don’t they take it away and send me back to Guantanamo?” he continued.

According to Esam, Yasser did not know he was a US citizen. “I learned about it when I was taken to Virginia. I lived in Saudi Arabia until I was 18, got a Saudi identity card and I thought that was it,” Yasser said.

According to the agreement between Yasser and the United States that secured his release in time to spend Ramadan with his parents for the first time in three years, he had to renounce his American citizenship which he did upon arrival. He also had to agree not to leave Saudi Arabia for five years, not to return to the United States for 10 years and to report any trips out of Saudi Arabia to the US government.

When asked what would happen to him if he violated any of those conditions, he said, “I don’t know. I will make sure to abide by them.”

Esam said: “It doesn’t bother me that he gave up his American citizenship in order to get out. I don’t think my son is unhappy about that. About the restrictions, yes. But it is something he agreed to. He will not ignore them. He is committed and he will do it.”

Yasser went on to say, “What happened to me was wrong. I won’t discuss what happened in Afghanistan, but the allegations against me are wrong. I believe that I am innocent and I think it is very clear to all Americans that I am innocent because if I were not, I would not be here speaking with you now.”

Although the United States never filed formal charges against Yasser, further conditions for his release dictate that he not file suit against the United States for his imprisonment and that he never travel to Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan or Israel.

As for the future, this young man whose English improved drastically during his confinement, the plan is to get married soon and start a new life.

“I will go back to school. I’m not sure if it will be marketing again. But yes, I want to get married. That is the first thing I am thinking about.”

Esam said: “This is all history and we want to put it behind us and move on with our lives. I will help my son and buy him an apartment when he gets married.”

Speaking to Yasser, one can see that this young man came out of the whole experience still mentally intact despite the arduous conditions of solitary confinement. He was able to maintain a smile and laugh and joke with his father.

Before coming in to sit with this journalist, Yasser was heard laughing and joking loudly with his siblings in an adjoining room, the normal sounds of a particularly happy family.

Prior to that, he was out with friends that he had not seen for a few years.

“The best thing about being back is just being with family, to be back home. I learned a lot of things including patience. I learned that I cannot always know what is going to happen in my life,” Yasser said.