Pentagon says five Guantanamo detainees transferred to United Arab Emirates

As a result of that review, “the Department of Defense announced today the transfer of Ali Ahmad Muhammad al-Razihi, Khalid Abd-al-Jabbar Muhammad Uthman al-Qadasi, Adil Said al-Hajj Ubayd al-Busays, Sulayman Awad Bin Uqayl al-Nahdi, and Fahmi Salem Said al-Asani”, he said.

“In accordance with statutory requirements, the secretary of Defense informed Congress of the United States’ intent to transfer these individuals”, Cook said. The Periodic Review Board (similar to a parole board) considered his case previous year, and found no “continuing significant threat to the security of the United States” that would require his detention.

The resettlement of the five Yemeni detainees is the first of its kind for the United Arab Emirates, which had previously taken in just one of its own citizens in 2008.

All five men are Yemeni.

In an interview this week with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News, Obama said he hopes “that by the end of this year we are seeing close to under 100 [Guantanamo] prisoners remaining and detainees remaining”.

The move leaves 107 detainees in the detention facility in Cuba. President Barack Obama, who campaigned on a pledge to close the prison, views it as a damaging symbol of detainee abuse but has been blocked by opposition Republican lawmakers in his efforts to shutter the military facility. The cornerstone of the administration’s long-awaited plan calls for sending the remainder of detainees to prisons in the USA operated by the Department of Defense.

The release brings the list of detainees approved for transfer down to 48.