Gitmo inmate freed after informing on 123 others

Last Updated 11:05 a.m. ET

LONDON - Leaked U.S. military documents reveal that a Guantanamo Bay detainee was freed after informing on 123 other prisoners, despite concerns about the reliability of his evidence, a British newspaper reported Tuesday.

The Guardian said the prolific informer - a Yemeni man captured in Pakistan in December 2001 - gave detailed information about al Qaeda activity in Afghanistan's Tora Bora mountains and identified other detainees as militants.

The U.S. military described Mohammed Basardah as an "invaluable" source who showed "exceptional co-operation" by sharing his "vast knowledge" about other detainees.

However, the documents also noted that he often changed his story, and noted some of his claims could not be verified.

Notes warned, "Research into the other detainees' timelines does not readily support [Basardah's] information"; and "The single-source [Basardah] reporting of detainee's training and fighting in Afghanistan has not been corroborated."

Analysts concluded that Basardah's "first-hand knowledge in reporting remains in question. Any information provided should be adequately verified through other sources."

Nonetheless, owing to his cooperation - and the lowering of his own threat level - he was recommended for release in 2008 and sent to Spain. The Guardian said his current whereabouts are unknown.

Yet testimony from Basardah has helped keep a British resident behind bars, despite repeated requests by the U.K. government for his return.

Details of more than 750 leaked U.S. military dossiers on terrorist suspects held at Guantanamo are being published by the Guardian, The New York Times and El Pais.

The dossiers reveal that detainees ranged from close associates of Osama bin Laden to seemingly innocent men held even though they were judged to pose little threat.

The Guantanamo Files (Guardian)
The Guantanamo Files (The New York Times)
Guantanamo uncovered (El Pais in English)
Special report: WikiLeaks

The newspaper said the files also reveal that the U.S. believed an alleged al Qaeda operative suspected of bomb attacks in Pakistan was an informant for British intelligence.

The leaked files — known as Detainee Assessment Briefs — describe the intelligence value of the detainees and whether they would be a threat to the U.S. if released. So far 604 detainees have been transferred out of Guantanamo while 172 remain.

The Pentagon has condemned the publication of the documents, which it said were obtained illegally by the secret-spilling WikiLeaks website.

The New York Times said it had obtained the files from another source and shared them with other news organizations.

The Guantanamo files give details of al Qaeda planning and confirm that London's Finsbury Park Mosque was considered a haven for extremists in the years before 2001, when it was a base for radical preacher Abu Hamza al-Masri.

Tuesday's New York Times said the files also reveal al Qaeda's desire to launch more plots against the United States after Sept. 11, 2001, including aircraft attacks on the West Coast.

The plans — none of which was executed — included discussions of plots to hijack cargo planes, hack into bank computers and cut the cables holding up the Brooklyn Bridge.

The Times also reports that one detainee, a Sudanese cameraman for Al Jazeera, Sami al-Hajj, was held for six years at Gitmo for questioning about the TV network's "training program, telecommunications equipment, and newsgathering operations in Chechnya, Kosovo, and Afghanistan," including any contacts with terror groups. Hajj insisted he was just a journalist, but his file stated he helped Islamic extremist groups transfer funds and obtain Stinger missiles. He was freed in 2008, and returned to work for Al Jazeera.