WASHINGTON – The Pentagon announced Monday that 11 Yemeni men who had been held without charge at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for more than two decades were transferred to Oman this week.
The transfer was the Biden administration’s latest and biggest push in its final weeks to clear out the last remaining uncharged detainees at Guantanamo.
The latest announcement brings the total number of men held at Guantanamo to 15. This is the lowest number since 2002, when the George W. Bush administration turned Guantanamo into what the United States calls a detention center for mostly Muslim men detained around the world. It is the “war on terror.” The September 11, 2001 al-Qaeda attacks were followed by the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and military and covert operations elsewhere.
According to the US-based Constitution Center, the transfers also include Shakawi al-Hajj, who went on a hunger strike and was hospitalized at Guantanamo to protest his 21-year sentence before being held in CIA custody. He was reportedly detained and tortured for two years. right.
Human rights groups and some lawmakers have been pressuring successive U.S. administrations to close Guantanamo or, failing that, release all detainees who have not been charged with any crime. At its peak, Guantanamo held about 800 people.
The Biden administration and its predecessor have said they are working to select suitable countries willing to accept detainees who have not been charged. Many of those stranded at Guantanamo are from Yemen, a war-torn country whose capital is held by the Iranian-aligned Houthi rebels.
The Sultanate of Oman, on the eastern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, refused to accept any prisoners early Tuesday. Officials in the country did not respond to questions from The Associated Press. The country, a major Western ally, has taken in about 30 prisoners in the past since the prison was established.
However, these prisoners were subsequently released under unexplained circumstances on the Omani side. Two Afghans previously held in Oman returned to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan in February. British activist group CAGE International has announced that a Yemeni national has died in Oman after being told he would be repatriated to Yemen along with 27 others.
“Following pressure from the Omani government and with little choice, the 26 men and their families offered compensation of $70,000 each and returned to Yemen,” the group said. It was not immediately clear what happened to the 28th prisoner.
With the transfers announced Monday, six unindicted men remain in custody at Guantanamo, two convicted and sentenced inmates and seven others for the 2001 attack, the 2000 attack on the U.S.S.S. He was indicted for the 2002 Cole bombing on the Indonesian island of Bali.
