By Asha Elmi - Reporter
MOGADISHU, September 27, 2026 Eight Somali men held for about a month at the U.S. military base at Guantánamo Bay were deported to Somalia on Thursday, MPR News reported on Friday.
MPR News spoke to one of the men, Adam Abdullah, 31, on Friday after he reached his family’s home near Mogadishu. Abdullah said the eight had been flown to Guantánamo in late August after immigration authorities told them they were travelling to Somalia and would stop in Cuba to refuel.
Abdullah alleged that guards beat him and placed him in a cold isolation cell after the men began a hunger strike. MPR News reported his account as an allegation; it did not independently establish that the mistreatment occurred.
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The U.S. Department of Homeland Security described the detainees in statements to MPR News as serious offenders but provided no evidence of crimes committed by the eight men, the broadcaster reported. MPR News said Abdullah had no criminal record in Minnesota beyond two parking citations.
Abdullah said nine Somali men were aboard the flight to East Africa: the eight held at Guantánamo and another man who boarded in Louisiana. MPR News said Abdullah had been working legally as a mechanic while his asylum application was pending, though an immigration judge later ordered his removal.