On Monday, the Pentagon announced that 15 Guantanamo Bay detainees have been transferred to the United Arab Emirates, bringing the total number of prisoners at the facility to 61. They had been held in Guantanamo without charges, some of them for more than fourteen years.
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In February 2016, the White House presented to Congress a plan to close the facility, transferring the remaining detainees to their home countries or to US military or civilian prisons.
But he faces opposition from many Republican lawmakers as well as some fellow Democrats.
“And if certain detainees no longer pose a continuing significant threat, they may be eligible for transfer to another country as well”, he said.
The debate is further complicated by former Guantánamo prisoners who have actually rejoined terrorist groups after their release, although the record appears to be improving: At least 21 percent of detainees released during the Bush administration re-engaged in terrorism, compared to 5 percent during Obama’s, according to U.S. intelligence officials.
Obama has been seeking to close the detention center amid opposition from Congress, which has prohibited transferring detainees to the US for any reason. It’s not known what happened to prisoners the UAE previously took in, though it’s widely believed they undergo some sort of government-monitored rehabilitation.
It may be semantics but it means that more prisoners – some more unsafe than those transferred by the Bush administration – are being allowed to leave.
Obama sent a Guantanamo closure plan to Congress in February, but the Republican majority has not acted on it. According to a State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, 12 of the men are from Yemen and three are Afghans.
They say Obiadullah is now “free” after 14 years in the USA prison in Cuba and that they can hardly wait to hear from him. However, since its opening, the prison has become infamous with many allegations such as torturing prisoners during George W. Bush’s presidency.
Located on the eastern edge of Cuba, the Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay has housed prisoners taken captive in war on terror since 2002.
Initially, the Department of Defense kept secret the identity of the individuals held in Guantanamo, but later officially acknowledged holding 779 prisoners in the camp.
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In a speech Monday on defeating Daesh, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump vowed to keep open the controversial prison. However, the recidivism rate, or the rate at which prisoners return to Islamic extremist activities, has only been revealed over the last few years and has increased over time.
