The Pentagon said on Monday that the US military has flown 11 Yemeni prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay to Oman to rebuild their lives, in a bold move at the end of the Biden administration that leaves just 15 people at the prison, leading to The prison population has declined more than any other. time in its more than 20-year history.
None of the men released had been charged with a crime during their two decades in detention. Now, all but six of the remaining prisoners have been charged or convicted of war crimes.
There were 40 detainees when President Biden took office and revived an Obama administration effort to close the prison.
The Pentagon carried out a covert operation early Monday, days before Guantanamo’s most notorious prisoner, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, was convicted of plotting the September 11, 2001 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in exchange for their lives. convicted rather than face trial for the death penalty.
The handoff had been in the works for about three years. Initial plans to shift to October 2023 were derailed due to Congress opposition.
The 11 people released included Moawath al-Alawi, a former long-term hunger striker who gained attention in the art world for creating model boats from items found in the Guantánamo prison; Abdussalam al-Hela, whose testimony was sought by defense attorneys in the USS Cole case; and Hassan bin Atash, younger brother of the defendant in the September 11 conspiracy case.
All prisoners were cleared for transfer through the federal national-security review panel.
US officials declined to say what the United States gave Oman, one of the most stable US allies in the Middle East, and what guarantees it received in return. By law, the military cannot send Guantánamo prisoners to Yemen because, as a country embroiled in a brutal civil war, it is considered too unstable to monitor and rehabilitate returnees.
The United States usually provides stipends to host countries for housing, education, resettlement, and monitoring of the men’s activities. The United States has also asked receiving countries to prevent former Guantánamo detainees from traveling abroad for at least two years.
Few details about the resettlement program have emerged from Oman, an island nation led by a sultan. Saudi Arabia has shown its reintegration center for Guantanamo detainees to journalists and scholars, but Oman has not.
US officials have called Oman’s program “well-developed” and designed to help Yemenis return to society with jobs, homes and families, many through arranged marriages.
The Obama administration sent 30 detainees to Oman from 2015 to 2017. One person died there, but the rest were sent home — 27 to Yemen and two to Afghanistan, according to a State Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity. sensitivity of diplomatic negotiations
Many Yemenis married and had children in Oman and were sent back with their families.
News of the successes reached Yemeni prisoners at Guantanamo, he said, and made Oman a desirable resettlement country. George M. ClarkA lawyer for two men transferred this week.
“It’s just not culturally compatible,” Mr Clarke said. “This is because they are given reasonably decent freedom, and they integrate into society in a successful way. And this is what makes rehabilitation work successful.”
Those sent to Oman were captured by United States allies or taken into US custody between 2001 and 2003. Mr. Clark said he was eager to rejoin the world of cellphones and Internet access.
“They want to live their lives,” said Mr Clark, representing Tawfiq al-Bihani and Mr bin Attash. “They want to get married. They want to have children. They want to get a job and live a normal life.
In October 2023, a military cargo plane and security team were already at Guantanamo Bay to transport 11 detainees to Oman when congressional objections led the Biden administration to cancel the mission, which ultimately happened this week.
At the time, the prisoners released this week had already had exit interviews with representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross, and guards had taken away the personal belongings traveling with them.
For the next year, Tina S. Caidano, the Biden administration’s envoy for Guantanamo affairs, kept the agreement viable through negotiations, travel and meetings both within the United States government and with the recipient country, the State Department official said. Ms. Kaidano died in October.
Three other prisoners at Guantanamo are eligible for transfer, including a stateless Rohingya, a Libyan and a Somali.
In addition, the State Department was trying to find a nation to receive and provide health care to a disabled Iraqi man who has pleaded guilty to commanding irregular forces in Afghanistan during the war. US officials plan to send him to a prison in Baghdad, but he is suing the Biden administration to block that transfer on the grounds that he would be in danger in his homeland.
The Guantanamo detention area is an emptier, quieter place today than ever before.
The remaining 15 inmates are housed in two prison buildings that have cell space for about 250 inmates.
The prison opened on 11 January 2002 with the arrival of the first 20 prisoners from Afghanistan. At its peak, in 2003, the operation held approximately 660 prisoners and more than 2,000 soldiers and civilians, commanded by a two-star general. During the construction of prisons, prisoners were mostly kept in open-air cells overlooking the water.
The operation now has 800 soldiers and civilian contractors – 53 guards and other staff members for each detainee – and is run by a more junior officer, Colonel Steven Kane.
Most of those deported were sent back to countries such as Afghanistan, Algeria, Kenya, Malaysia, Morocco, Pakistan, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia. In addition, Belize accepted a Pakistani man who pleaded guilty to war crimes and became a government collaborator. The man, Majid Khan, is present there along with his wife and daughter.