The Pentagon announced Monday that the U.S. military has sent 11 Yemeni prisoners from Guantanamo Bay to Oman to restart their lives, leaving just 15 in prison in a bold move in the final days of the Biden administration, increasing the prison population. is the lowest of any country. In a history of over 20 years.
None of the men released were charged with a crime during their 20 years in custody. All but six of the remaining prisoners have now been charged with or convicted of war crimes.
When President Biden took office and revived the Obama administration’s efforts to close prisons, there were 40 detainees.
The Pentagon said Guantanamo’s most notorious prisoner, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, was scheduled to plead guilty early Monday for planning the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in exchange for his life. carried out a secret operation. I would rather receive a sentence than go through a death penalty trial.
The handover work continued for about three years. Initial plans to carry out the transfer in October 2023 were stalled due to parliamentary opposition.
Among the 11 people released was Moas al-Alwi, a former long-term hunger striker who gained attention in the art world for building a model boat from objects found at Guantanamo prison. Mr. Abdulsalam Al-Hera was asked to testify by his defense attorney in the USS Cole case. Hassan bin Atash is the younger brother of the defendant in the September 11 conspiracy case.
All prisoners were cleared for transfer through the federal National Security Review Board.
U.S. officials declined to say what the U.S. gave Oman, one of the most stable U.S. allies in the Middle East, or what guarantees it received in return. By law, the military cannot send Guantanamo prisoners to Yemen. The country is embroiled in a brutal civil war and is considered too unstable to monitor and reintegrate returnees.
The United States has typically paid stipends to host countries for housing, education, rehabilitation, and monitoring of the men’s activities. The United States has also asked host countries to ban former Guantanamo detainees from traveling abroad for at least two years.
Few details about the rehabilitation program have been released by the sultan’s island nation, Oman. Saudi Arabia has shown reporters and academics its rehabilitation center for detainees at Guantanamo, but Oman has not.
U.S. officials say Oman’s program is “well-organized” and aims to help Yemenis reintegrate into society with jobs, housing and families, many through arranged marriages. It is said that there are.
The Obama administration sent 30 detainees to Oman between 2015 and 2017. One man died there, but the others returned home — 27 were sent to Yemen and two to Afghanistan, a State Department official said on condition of anonymity. The delicacy of diplomatic negotiations.
Many Yemenis got married in Oman, had children, and returned home with their families.
He said news of this success had reached the Yemeni prisoners at Guantanamo, making Oman a preferred resettlement country. George M. Clarklawyers for two of the men transferred this week.
“It’s not just culturally compatible,” Clark said. “That’s because they are given a certain amount of freedom and are well integrated into society. And that’s what makes resettlement work.”
The men sent to Oman were either captured by U.S. allies or held in U.S. custody between 2001 and 2003. Mr Clark said they were eager to rejoin the world of mobile phones and internet access.
“They want to live their lives,” said Clark, who represents Tawfik al-Bihani and bin Attash. “They want to get married. They want to have children. They want to get a job and live a normal life.”
Military cargo planes and security teams were already at Guantanamo Bay to transfer 11 detainees to Oman in October 2023, when the Biden administration halted the mission over Congressional opposition, but it was finally carried out this week.
At the time, prisoners leaving the country this week had already been interviewed by representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross, and guards were removing personal belongings that were traveling with them.
Tina S. Kaidanaw, the Biden administration’s special envoy for Guantanamo, kept the deal alive through negotiations, travel and meetings both within the U.S. government and with host countries over the next year, State Department officials said. Ta. Kaidanau passed away in October.
Three other prisoners at Guantanamo are targeted for transfer, including a stateless Rohingya, a Libyan and a Somali.
Additionally, the State Department was looking for a country to provide medical care to a disabled Iraqi man who pleaded guilty to commanding irregular troops in wartime Afghanistan. U.S. authorities plan to transfer him to a prison in Baghdad, but he is suing the Biden administration to block the move, citing danger in his homeland.
The current detention area at Guantanamo is a quieter place than it used to be.
The remaining 15 people are being held in two prison buildings with cell space for about 250 prisoners.
The prison opened on January 11, 2002, and the first 20 detainees from Afghanistan arrived. At its peak in 2003, the operation involved approximately 660 prisoners of war and more than 2,000 soldiers and civilians commanded by a two-star general. Most of the detainees were held in open-air cells on cliffs overlooking the sea while the prison was being constructed.
The operation currently has 800 troops and civilian contractors (53 guards and other personnel for each detainee) and is run by a more junior officer, Colonel Stephen Kane.
Most of those repatriated were sent back to countries such as Afghanistan, Algeria, Kenya, Malaysia, Morocco, Pakistan, Tunisia, and Saudi Arabia. Additionally, Belize accepted a Pakistani man as a government collaborator who admitted to committing war crimes. The man, Majid Khan, came there with his wife and daughter.
