Career
He was released into the custody of Saudi Arabian authorities and then escaped in 2006. He became (expounder of Islamic law). Al-Rubaish was captured near the Pakistan-Afghan border and transferred to Saudi Arabia on December 13, 2006.
On February 3, 2009 Saudi security officials published a new list of Saudi suspected terrorists. Al-Rubaish was one of 11 of the 85 men on this list who was a former Guantanamo captive. In November 2009 a research paper from the think tank The Jamestown Foundation asserted that Al-Rubaish was now a mufti for Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
The paper asserted Al-Rubaish had published a book criticizing Shaykh Salman al-Ouda, a critic of al Qaida's attacks on September 11, 2001. It also claimed that he had released an additional audio tape in November 2009, criticizing the Saudi government's introduction of mixed sex education for children. Al-Rubaish was transferred to Saudi Arabia on December 13, 2006, then escaped from custody and joined AQAP in Yemen, becoming a senior figure in the group.
In October 2014, the U.S. State Department's Rewards for Justice program opened a US$5 million reward for Al-Rubaish's location. In December 2014, he was designated a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. AQAP released a statement in April 2015 announcing that al-Rubaish had been killed with other unnamed individuals in a drone strike near Al Mukalla on 12 April 2015.
It is believed that the drone strike was carried out by the United States, however this has not yet been confirmed.
