AKIPRESS.COM - A former prisoner at Guantánamo Bay has died in Kazakhstan, six months after he was released from the US military prison, reports The Guardian.

Asim Thabit Abdullah al-Khalaqi, a Yemeni national who was held at the US military prison for 11 years, died on 7 May, as a result of maltreatment in detention and poor healthcare after he was released, according to a friend and former inmate.

Khalaqi, a Yemeni national, died of kidney failure, said Jihad Dhiab (also known as Abu Wa’el Dhiab), a Syrian ex-Guantánamo prisoner who is now living in Uruguay.

Khalaqi’s death was confirmed by both the Pentagon and the State Department on Friday. 

Khalaqi, who was 46 upon his release last December, was one of the first terrorist suspects sent to the US naval base for interrogation. Born in Saudi Arabia, he had been suspected of serving Osama bin Laden’s Arab brigade. He was arrested in Pakistan in December 2001 in the company of a senior al-Qaida figure, and has been held at Guantánamo since 17 January 2002. He was never tried in court.