A former detainee at the American military prison in Guantanamo Bay, who once served asOsama bin Laden’s bodyguard and driver, recently released an audio tape in which he promotes jihad in east Africa.
In a message released Thursday on the social media messaging app Telegram and attributed to Ibrahim Qosi, Qosi told fighters in Somalia to “continue the raid with a raid, and light up the ground beneath the feet of the Crusaders and team them that the lands of Islam are a fortress that is not allowed to the disbelievers, and a graveyard for the invaders,” according to a translation by the SITE Intelligence Group.
“Victory is brought by blood and suffering, not by promises and wishes from every libertine,” he said.
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The Guantanamo detainee file on Qosi says he fought or worked for al Qaeda starting in the early 1990s and up until he was captured by Pakistani forces in December 2001. Initially a financial officer for al Qaeda, Qosi was later assigned to bin Laden’s personal protection detail and often worked as the terror leader’s driver. He told interrogators that prior to his capture, he had been with bin Laden in Tora Bora.
Though the detainee file describes Qosi as “high risk” and of “high intelligence value,” he was released from Guantanamo Bay in July 2012 after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy and supporting terrorism. He had originally been sentenced to 14 years, but the sentence was reduced to two — not including the eight years he had already served in detention — due to hiscooperation with authorities.