US agrees to release five other Guantanamo detainees Prison News

Five men from Yemen, Somalia and Kenya are among the 39 prisoners the U.S. is following at the infamous Cuban facility.

The United States has agreed to release five more prisoners Guantanamo Bay military facility, which does not mean that they will soon be released from the controversial prison.

Three out of five arrested They are from Yemen, one from Somalia and the other from Kenya, according to documents released online this week by the U.S. Department of Defense.

Collectively, the men have spent 85 years in open prison two decades ago In the wake of the September 11, 2001 al-Qaeda attacks on detainees known as the “war on terror”.

Of the 39 detainees currently in custody US facilities in Cuba, 18 have been approved for release in November and December following a case review. The 18 men have not been charged with any offenses, the AFP news agency reported.

The five men recently approved for release are: Somali Guleed Hassan Ahmed (also known as Guled Hassan Duran); Kenyan Mohammed Abdul Malik Bajabu; and Omar Muhammad Ali al-Rammah, Moath Hamza al-Alwi and Suhayl al-Sharabi. Yemen.

Hassan Duran, according to his lawyers, would be the first detainee taken from a black CIA site to Guantanamo to be released. The New York Times reported on Tuesday.

The Pentagon’s periodic review committee noted that the five men had not filed a threat, or had no longer filed a threat to the United States.

But as others agreed to his release, his ability to leave prison may be delayed Washington is looking for deals with the countries of origin of the detainees, or with other nations, to accept them.

Today, the United States does not allow Yemenis to return home Civil War the country, or Somalis, whose homeland is also rife with conflict.

[Al Jazeera]

Acceptance of the release signaled a hasty effort by President Joe Biden’s administration to resolve the situation. The remaining 39 Guantanamo detainees, after his predecessor Donald Trump effectively froze his actions.

It has been 20 years since the prison was opened on Tuesday, and it has been brought has renewed calls from international human rights groups to close. Rights groups accuse the United States of arbitrarily arresting and torturing dozens of people during that time.

Of the 39 men arrested at Guantanamo, 27 are still unaccounted for, according to Human Rights Watch.

A group of UN human rights experts on Monday He called Washington “To close this ongoing ugly chapter of human rights violations.”

Written on the Lawfare website, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein said those detainees are facing trial, including the Sept. 11 head. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Could be tried in U.S. civilian courts rather than in secret and confusing military commissions.

“Now that the US war in Afghanistan is over, it’s time to close the doors to Guantanamo once and for all,” Feinstein said.

([Al Jazeera]

Guantanamo defense lawyers say some of the men are still in jail mental health presenting a case for release or arranging future life for problems that make it difficult in their countries or elsewhere.

Khalid Ahmed Qasim, whose case was reviewed in December, was denied release, although Pentagon officials acknowledged that he was not a significant figure in Al Qaeda or the Taliban and did not pose a major threat.

But he was often told that he would not comply with prison officials and that he had no plans for his future if released. The commission “encourages the detainee to work immediately to show better compliance and better management of emotions,” he said.

He also asked his lawyers to draw up a plan “to find out how his mental health conditions would be handled if he transferred”. Outside Guantanamo.

In the 20 years since Guantanamo opened, the United States has spent more than $ 540 million annually on detaining prisoners, according to Human Rights Watch.