The Gitmo Prisoners Who Become Millionaires

The United Kingdom government quietly reached a large monetary settlement this month with Abu Zubaydah, the accused Al Qaeda operative who’s been held by the United States at Guantánamo Bay for nearly two decades without charge.

The confidential payment, to a prisoner the Americans have no intention of releasing, marks the latest chapter in an unusual pattern that has emerged over the past 15 years: Islamic extremist terror suspects who spent years in detention, some of whom remain in detention, receiving taxpayer-funded settlements from the British and Canadian governments while their alleged victims receive little or nothing.

Mr. Zubaydah’s attorney, Helen Duffy, announced the agreement on January 13, describing the payout as a “substantial sum” intended to address the “intolerable suffering” her client endured. While the exact amount remains undisclosed, reports suggest it is widely believed to be in the hundreds of thousands of pounds.

This isn’t exactly unprecedented.