President Barack Obama has pledged to close the military prison in Cuba, but has struggled to move forward due to opposition in Congress and pushback from countries reluctant to take in one-time terror suspects.
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The forty five-yr-previous, an alleged Al-Qaeda cell member who later fled to Afghanistan and was accused of preventing there, was captured in June 2002 within the southern Pakistani port metropolis of Karachi.
His lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith of the human rights group Reprieve, said the release was long overdue and the USA owes an apology to the 45-year-old Aziz, who has a wife and son in Mauritania.
Obama vetoed the annual defense policy bill for the first time in his administration one week ago, in part due to restrictions meant to freeze out such transfers, both overseas and to the U.S. Renewed efforts to study potential Guantanamo alternatives on USA soil in order to inform a closure plan that the White House has been promising for months have been met with early outcry from lawmakers and state government officials.
The communication ministry also said Mauritania would press on with efforts to secure the release of the last of its citizens at Guantanamo, Mohamedou Ould Slahi, held for 13 years.
Aziz boarded a US military cargo plane Wednesday and flew to Mauritania, on Africa’s west coast.
With Aziz’s transfer, 113 detainees now remain at Guantanamo Bay after a high of nearly 800 prisoners, according to the Pentagon.
United States officers are taking a look at websites in america that would someday home the detainees.
A Pentagon team has visited Fort Leavenworth, Kan., and the Navy brig in Charleston, S.C., for similar evaluations.
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“These site visits are informational only. No sites have been selected for holding detainees”, he said.
