Tabarak was captured on December 15, 2001, or December 16, 2001, together with approximately thirty other Arabs trying to cross the Afghan-Pakistan border. Tabarak was described as one of four "major prizes" among these Arab captives—a follower of
Osama bin Laden, who had worked on his farm in
Sudan, and followed him to
Afghanistan. The other three men,
Ali Hamza al-Bahlul,
Ibrahim al-Qosi, and
Mohammed al-Qahtani were all to face charges before
Guantanamo military commissions. Tabarak, on the other hand, was among the first captives to be repatriated. Historian
Andy Worthington, author of
The Guantanamo Files, speculated as to whether Tabarak's early release was a tacit admission that Tabarak had played a more peripheral role than first imagined. ==Role described during Salim Hamdan's Tribunal==