Obaidullah, an Afghan, was accused of conspiracy including conspiracy to commit murder, and providing material support to terrorism. The US alleged that he stored and concealed anti-tank mines and other explosive devices and that he had a notebook with illustrations showing how to prepare wires and detonate them for the purpose of "carrying out a terrorist act."
Obaidullah was arrested on July 20, 2002, and held at Bagram Air Base before being transferred to Guantanamo Bay.
At a US military administrative review board hearing in August 2005, Obaidullah denied the allegations against him and said that he had only admitted to being a member of the Taliban and planting explosive devices because he had been subjected to abusive interrogation techniques. He said that while at Bagram, US soldiers held a knife to his throat and threatened to kill him if he did not confess. He said they also suspended his hands above his head for extended periods of time, subjected him to sleep deprivation, and forced him to walk all night carrying a heavy bag of sand.
Obaidullah was never formally charged in a military commission and in 2008 the prosecutor withdrew the case. On May 19, 2015, an interagency review board cleared Obaidullah for release.
He was transferred to the United Arab Emirates on Aug. 14, 2016. He had been at Guantanamo for nearly 14 years. On May 29, 2018 the Washington Post reported that Obaidullah, along with many other former Guantanamo detainees, continued to be held at a detention facility there. (Last updated August 9, 2018)
