U.S. Transfers 11 Guantanamo Detainees To Oman After More Than 2 Decades Without Charge | rssama.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon said Monday it had transferred 11 Yemeni men to Oman this week aft holding them for much than 2 decades without complaint astatine nan U.S. naval guidelines successful Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The transportation was nan latest and biggest push by nan Biden administration successful its last weeks to clear Guantanamo of nan past remaining detainees location who were ne'er charged pinch a crime.

The latest merchandise brings nan full number of men detained astatine Guantanamo to 15. That’s nan fewest since 2002, erstwhile President George W. Bush’s management turned Guantanamo into a detention tract for nan mostly Muslim men taken into custody astir nan world successful what nan U.S. called its “war connected terror.” The U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and subject and covert operations elsewhere followed nan Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaida attacks.

The men successful nan latest transportation included Shaqawi al Hajj, who had undergone repeated hunger strikes and hospitalizations astatine Guantanamo to protestation his 21 years successful prison, preceded by 2 years of detention and torture successful CIA custody, according to nan U.S.-based Center for Constitutional Rights.

Rights groups and immoderate lawmakers person pushed successive U.S. administrations to adjacent Guantanamo or, failing that, merchandise each those detainees ne'er charged pinch a crime. Guantanamo held astir 800 detainees astatine its peak.

The Biden management and administrations earlier it said they were moving connected lining up suitable countries consenting to return those never-charged detainees. Many of those stuck astatine Guantanamo were from Yemen, a state divided by war, pinch its superior held by nan Iranian-allied Houthi militant group.

The sultanate of Oman, connected nan eastbound separator of nan Arabian Peninsula, did not admit taking successful nan prisoners early Tuesday. Officials successful nan state did not respond to questions from The Associated Press. The cardinal Western state has taken successful immoderate 30 prisoners successful nan past since nan founding of nan prison.

“Faced pinch small choice, 26 of nan men and their families returned to Yemen aft being pressured by nan Omani government, which offered each $70,000 arsenic compensation,” nan group said. It wasn’t instantly clear what happened to nan 28th prisoner.

The transportation announced Monday leaves six never-charged men still being held astatine Guantanamo, 2 convicted and sentenced inmates, and 7 others charged pinch nan 2001 attacks, nan 2000 bombing of nan USS Cole, and 2002 bombings successful Bali, Indonesia.

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Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell successful Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

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