U.S. Justice Department lawyers on Friday blocked a legal request that a Guantanamo Bay detainee who weighs just 74 lbs (33.5 kg) after an eight-year hunger strike be released for health reasons.
Advertisement
Graham was equally emphatic upon learning that Defense Secretary Ash Carter is also considering Charleston for the new high-risk installation.
Congress was notified Thursday that a Pentagon team was set to survey potential sites for Guantanamo Bay detainees, according to a defense official.
Transferring the remaining 116 detainees to the U.S.is being considered as an option for closing Guantanamo Bay.
The defense spokesman said the surveys are part of the “ongoing effort to identify locations within the United States that can possibly facilitate military commissions and can possibly hold detainees now at GTMO”.
“DoD personnel will consider surveying a variety of military and civilian sites to determine their candidacy for holding law of war detainees in a humane and secure manner”, Ross said, adding that the list of potential facilities is “broad”.
The officials said that early versions of the Pentagon report had made it clear that Thomson and Charleston were the most viable choices based on costs and the timeline needed to renovate the facilities to the maximum security levels required.
Jubilant crowds waved American flags and chanted “Long live the United States!” as the Stars and Stripes rose over the newly reopened U.S. Embassy in Cuba on Friday after a half-century of often-hostile relations… Legally, the administration is still barred from transferring Guantanamo detainees to the United States, reportedly laws passed by Congress starting in 2010.
President Barack Obama has called for the closure of the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay since the beginning of his presidency.
Senator Roberts has avidly fought the Obama Administration’s efforts to transfer Guantanamo detainees to the mainland, particularly to Ft.
Established by the former George W. Bush administration after the attacks of September 11, 2001, Guantanamo Bay once held almost 800 enemy combatants captured in the war on terrorism.
Advertisement
“There is this profound dissonance between what the administration is saying about its desire to close Guantanamo and what is it actually doing”, said Omar Farah, the detainee’s lawyer.
