News, Articles & Reviews

Washington (ANTARA News/Reuters) - The CIA this week transferred a suspected high-level al Qaeda member with close ties to Osama bin Laden to the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, the Pentagon said on Friday.

The detainee, Muhammad Rahim, helped prepare the Tora Bora caves used as a hide-out for bin Laden in Afghanistan in 2001, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.

He also attempted to procure chemicals for a plan to attack U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan and to recruit people with access to U.S. military facilities, Whitman said.

Rahim, an Afghan national, was detained in the summer of 2007, according to a statement CIA Director Michael Hayden gave to CIA employees. CIA transferred him to Defense Department custody earlier this week, according to Whitman.

"Rahim is a tough, seasoned jihadist," Hayden wrote.

"Rahim is perhaps best known in counter-terror circles as a personal facilitator and translator for Usama bin Ladin and other al-Qa`ida leaders."

Hayden said Rahim was proficient in several languages and familiar with the border areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Whitman declined to say where or how Rahim was initially detained.

The CIA has interrogated Rahim. "I can`t characterize the nature of his questioning (but) this detention was done in accord with U.S. law," a senior counterterrorism official said.(*)

Source