Bahrain Mirror: The Bahraini Foreign Ministry said that the visit of Abdulrahman Ahmed Al-Sheikh, a dual Saudi-US citizen accused of working with the terrorist Islamic State (IS) organization, to the Kingdom of Bahrain, was made at the request of the United States. In a statement on Wednesday (October 31, 2018), it pointed out that "in reference to recent media reports about Abdulrahman Ahmed Al-Sheikh's visit to the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirms that the Kingdom of Bahrain has received a request from the United States, asking approval for the visit of the aforementioned, who holds both the Saudi and American nationalities."

The Ministry said that "because the person is not wanted or convicted in security cases, not convicted by the US judiciary on any charges related to terrorism, and for humanitarian reasons since he is married to a Bahraini national and his family resides in the Kingdom of Bahrain, the approval has been given for his visit to the Kingdom of Bahrain."

Abdulrahman Al-Sheikh was arrested in September 2017 by a Kurdish militia in Syria, who handed him over to the US military. He told interrogators that he went to Syria with the intention of working as a freelance journalist, but instead was arrested by "Daesh" (IS) and started only working for the group seven months after his release from prison.

The Trump administration ordered his release recently after he had been held without trial for more than 13 months as a suspected member of the terrorist IS organization.

The identity of the man was kept secret and referred to as "John Doe" in court files and public debates.

Arabic Version