ARLINGTON, Virginia: A suspected Al Qaeda fighter held at Guantanamo Bay U S military prison could return to extremism if freed, a Pentagon assessment said at a parole-style hearing yesterday, but the man’s defenders contended he was no threat to the United States.
Ghaleb Nassar Al Bihani, a 34- or 35-year-old Yemeni, is suspected of having fought in Afghanistan for the Al Qaeda extremist group, according to a US Defense Department prisoner profile. The US military is unsure of his exact age.
A Defense Department profile read at the televised hearing of the Periodic Review Board contended that one of Al Bihani’s brothers was a member of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and six brothers had fought in Afghanistan.
His family has close ties to high-ranking Al Qaeda members “and almost certainly would induce YM-128 to reengage in extremist activities if he were repatriated to Yemen,” the profile said, using Al Bihani’s inmate number.
BERLIN: The German government yesterday signed off on a draft law that will allow young Germans of foreign origin to have dual citizenship, a move that relaxes some of Europe’s strictest nationality laws and will benefit the large Turkish community.
Current rules oblige children of immigrants from most non-EU countries to choose at the age of 23 between German citizenship or that of their parents’ country of origin.
The dual passport issue has long rankled among the roughly three million people of Turkish origin living in Germany, just under half of whom have taken German citizenship.
The draft law approved by the government allows young people to opt for two passports if, at the age of 21, they can prove they have lived in Germany for at least eight years, gone to school in the country for six years, gained school-leaving qualifications here or completed vocational training in Germany.
Agencies
