United States announces single largest transfer of Guantanamo detainees

The transfer of 12 Yemeni nationals and three Afghans to the UAE comes amid a renewed push to whittle down the number of detainees held at the USA prison in Cuba that President Barack Obama aims to close.

U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) released an unclassified report on Wednesday with information from the Department of Defense detailing the terrorist activities and affiliations of 107 Guantanamo Bay detainees as of November.

A reported 61 detainees remain at Gitmo–the facility that President Obama had tried to close at the start of his presidency.

The bill includes language that would make it almost impossible for President Obama to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, despite the fact that national security leaders from across the political spectrum have urged the president and Congress to make shuttering this facility a top priority. There were 242 detainees at Guantanamo when the Obama administration came into office. “Once again, hardened terrorists are being released to foreign countries where they will be a threat”.

The latest transfer is part of an acceleration in the prison population’s decline, with the State Department official noting that in the past 11 months alone, 55 detainees have been transferred to 13 different countries.

Six of the 15 – al-Busi, Sulayman, Kazaz, al-Muhajari, al-Adahi, and al-Mudafari – were unanimously recommended for release by the inter-agency Guantanamo Review Task Force, the Pentagon said.

Obama pledged to close the prison just days after taking office in 2009, but staunch resistance in Congress has made that prospect very hard. But he faces opposition from many Republican lawmakers as well as some fellow Democrats.

“The support of our friends and allies – like the UAE – is critical to our achieving this shared goal”.

The Afghan detainees transferred to UAE are Obaidullah, Muhammad Kamin, and Hamid Al-Razak.

Located on the eastern edge of Cuba, the Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay has housed prisoners taken captive in war on terror since 2002. During the Bush administration, 532 prisoners were released from Guantanamo, often in large groups to Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia.