Two Pakistani brothers who were held in the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay for nearly 20 years have been released without charge.

Abdul and Mohammed-Ahmed Rabbani were arrested in Pakistan in 2002. The Pentagon claimed that Abdul Rabbani ran the al-Qaeda safe house and his brother arranged travel and funds for the organization’s leaders. The brothers claimed they were tortured by the CIA before being transferred to Guantanamo Bay.

Both men have already returned to their homeland in Pakistan.

The brothers were arrested by Pakistani security forces in Karachi in September 2002. Initially, they were kept at the CIA base in Afghanistan, and almost two years later they were transferred to Guantanamo Bay.

Beginning in 2013 and over the next seven years, Ahmed Rabbani went on numerous hunger strikes, surviving on food supplements that were sometimes given to him without his consent. 3D Center lawyer Clive Stafford Smith, who represented both men, told the BBC he would try to sue to keep the brothers in custody, but said “the chances of getting compensation are slim.” Not even a simple apology will be given to them.”

Permission to release the men was given in 2021, and it is not clear why they have remained in detention ever since. Ahmed Rabbani’s wife was pregnant when he was arrested and gave birth to a son just five months later. He himself never met his son.

“I spoke with Ahmed’s son Javad, who is 20 years old and he never met or touched his father, as his mother was pregnant when Ahmed was kidnapped. I met Javad a few times and would love to be there for their first hug,” said Stafford Smith.

During his imprisonment in Guantanamo, Ahmed Rabbani gained a reputation as an accomplished artist. In May, he will hold an exhibition in Karachi along with 12 other Pakistani artists inspired by his work.

Biden hopes to close Guantanamo Bay

Guantanamo Bay in Cuba was created under the George W. Bush administration in 2002 for foreign terrorist suspects after the September 11 attacks in New York. Current US President Joe Biden says he hopes to close the facility, which still holds 32 people. In 2003, up to 680 people were held at Guantanamo Bay.

“The United States appreciates the willingness of the Government of Pakistan and other partners to support the United States’ ongoing efforts to responsibly reduce the prison population and ultimately close the Guantanamo Bay facility,” the Pentagon said in a statement.

Maya Foa, director of the charity Reprieve, which until last year provided legal representation for Ahmed Rabbani, called his two decades in prison “a tragedy that shows how far the US has strayed from its founding principles” during his “war on terror.”

“They stole a son, husband and father from the family. This injustice can never be corrected. “The full reckoning of the wounds inflicted by the devastating ‘war on terror’ will only begin when Guantanamo Bay is closed for good,” he said.