JEDDAH, 17 March — Abdul Hakeem Bukhari, a Saudi trader missing for the past five months, is one of the detainees held by the United States on the Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. This was revealed by a letter sent by him to his brother in Makkah from the detention camp.
The family received a telephone call by Abdul Hakeem from a jail in Kandahar at the end of December. However, since then there was no contact between them. Yesterday his father in Taif and his brother, Abdul Rahman in Makkah, received two letters which Abdul Hakeem sent from 160 Camp X-Ray, inquiring about all members of the family and telling them he was safe and in good health.
Speaking to Arab News, Abdul Rahman said that he was surprised to find the letter from Abdul Hakeem in his office in Makkah yesterday.
“There was only one page. On the front side was the name of the post office for the prisoners of war,” he explained.
In the letter to Abdul Rahman, dated Feb. 13, Abdul Hakeem inquired about the health of his father, brothers, sisters and his son.
“Although the letter was very short and did not give much detail about our brother, it nevertheless made us very happy. At least now we know that he is still alive,” Abdul Rahman said.
He called upon the Saudi authorities to take quick steps for the release of their brother. He said he has already sent cables to Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal and Saudi Ambassador to Pakistan Ali Al-Asiri.
He said that his mother was deeply concerned about her son and had spent sleepless nights thinking about him.
Earlier, the family had contacted the Saudi Embassy in Pakistan to search for Abdul Hakeem.
Arab News met with Abdul Hakeem’s family in January, two days after his photo was carried by the French news agency, AFP, as evidence that he was among those jailed in Kandahar, Afghanistan. At that time, the family stated that their son had gone to Afghanistan for business, not to fight alongside Al-Qaeda.
“I know my brother very well. I did not notice any change in his behavior over the past few years. He is an ordinary person who does not have any strange ideas or strong political views. He has never spoken to us about Afghan jihad or Al-Qaeda organization.”
He added that the main intention of his brother’s Pakistan visit was to do business to help his only son, Yousuf, continue his university education.
Abdul Hakeem first went to Pakistan 17 months ago, when he had two surgeries.
“He returned from Pakistan before the Sept. 11 events, carrying the documents related to the operations. The documents proved that he had been to Pakistan for medical reasons.”
He again went to Pakistan in mid-November to trade in Afghan carpets, which he thought would be available cheap because of the war.
