US Transfers Gitmo Prisoners to Saudi Arabia

Joint Task Force Guantanamo’s Camp Delta with a guard tower at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Washington, 07 Rabiul Akhir 1438/06 January 2017 (MINA) – The Pentagon announced Thursday the transfer of four Yemeni prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay prison to the Government of Saudi Arabia.

According to KUNA, the prisoners were identified as Salem Ahmad Hadi Bin Kanad, Muhammed Rajab Sadiq Abu Ghanim, Abdallah Yahya Yusif Al-Shibli, and Muhammad Ali Abdallah Muhammad Bwazir.

None have been charged with crimes.

“The United States is grateful to the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its humanitarian gesture and willingness to support ongoing US efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility,” the Pentagon said in a statement.

“The United States coordinated with the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to ensure these transfers took place consistent with appropriate security and humane treatment measures,” it added.

There are 55 detainees remaining at the prison, down from more than 240 when President Barack Obama took office.

He pledged to close the prison when he signed his first Executive Order at the White House, but faced intense backlash from Congress about the possibility of imprisoning or trying some of the prisoners inside the US.

No connection with terrorism

The Bush administration says that the detainees are “enemy combatants” in the global war against terror – a war that is being waged around the world, and that could last for decades.

Several of the detainees said that they had no connection with terrorism and had no idea why they had been abducted and taken to Guantánamo.

Many prisoners were not captured fighting in Afghanistan. Some were picked up in Bosnia, Indonesia, Thailand, Mauritania, and Pakistan.   (T/RS05/RS01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)