Bosniaks remember anti-terror hysteria

According to a Pentagon statement, two prisoners will be released from Guantanamo to the Balkans. One of them, Tarek Mahmud Ahmed El Savah, an Egyptian, will be transferred to BiH, and the other, Abdul Aziz Abdullah Ali El – Saudi, a Yemeni, will be sent to Montenegro. These two are part of the 17 prisoners who will be released from Guantanamo this January.

Regarding El-Savah, his guilt for terrorism has not been proven in Guantanamo, but he was allegedly a member of the El-Mudžahid unit during the war and has a wife and daughter here.

How foreign fighters entered

He is allegedly a person suffering from morbid obesity and severe psychological problems.   

Whenever the topic of foreign fighters in BiH arises, it always leads to numerous absurdities. Namely, the free part of BiH under the control of the legal Government was a completely sealed territory for three and a half years from '92 to '95, Bosniaks were without weapons, and it is usually said that not even a bird could enter BiH at that time. How did foreign fighters enter?

At one point, a witness appeared before the Hague Tribunal who worked as a surgical assistant in the Travnik hospital. After one of these foreign fighters from Islamic countries was wounded, the surgeon asked him to check the pockets for any identification document. The young man found only a pass in the wounded man's pocket, signed by Gojko Šušak himself, the then Croatian Minister of Defense. The pass stated that the HV and HVO units were obliged to provide all assistance to that person and allow them free movement.

In the case of El-Savah, world media report that he provided a large amount of useful information about terrorism. How did he know so much information about terrorism if he is innocent and was not involved in any terrorist activities? Will Bosnia and Herzegovina face those waves of false anti-terrorist accusations again?

Algerians as an example of media lies

The story of the Algerian group speaks volumes. Today, all members of that group are free with confirmation that they were wrongly accused. Many in this country can remember the anti-terrorist hysteria of the local media, when it was said that the members of the Algerian group were the most dangerous terrorists. When they were extradited to Guantanamo, the anti-terrorist hysteria did not stop. More than seven years later, when they were released by the administration of US President Barack Obama, those identical media outlets, and even the same journalists, welcomed them as people who had been unjustly slandered. As a side note, the people who were instrumental in the media's demonization of the "Algerians" began to take on the role of fighters for their human rights and release.            

This is precisely why the question arises: what does the arrival of this man bring to Bosnia and Herzegovina?

If his innocence has finally been confirmed, the question is why he had to spend almost 14 years in Guantanamo under those circumstances? If, as numerous media claim, he is a person with severe psychological problems, how is it possible that "useful" information about terrorism was obtained through him?