Kenyan freed after 17 years in US-run Guantanamo prison

The US Defense Department said Tuesday that it had released a Kenyan man from its Guantanamo prison, leaving 29 men still held extrajudicially at the American base in Cuba.

Mohammed Abdul Malik Bajabu was repatriated to Kenya after it was determined that his detention was "no longer necessary to protect against a continuing significant threat to the national security of the United States," the Defense Department said in a statement.

Human rights watchdog, Amnesty International, said he had been indefinitely detained without charge for more than 17 years.

"Transferring Mohammed Abdul Malik Bajabu is a move in the right direction, but it isn’t enough. We hope to see more transfers in the coming days," human rights watchdog, Amnesty International, said in a statement.

'Respect his rights'

"The US government now has an obligation to ensure that the government of Kenya will respect and protect his human rights," it added.

The Washington Post reported that Bajabu had been arrested in 2007 and was accused of belonging to Al-Qaeda's East Africa branch.

With his release, 29 detainees remain at Guantanamo, down from a peak of nearly 800.

Of them 15 are eligible for transfer, three are eligible for a review for possible release, seven are facing charges and four have been convicted and sentenced, the Defense Department statement said.

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