After threatening to veto the final draft of the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) partly because it forbids the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to the United States and tightens barriers to sending them to other countries, Obama caved.
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They are Ali Al Razihi, Khalid Al Qadasi, Adil Al Busays, Sulayman Al Nahdi and Fahmi Al Asani.
The centerpiece of that plan is expected to be a provision to move to a prison in the United States the 59 remaining detainees who are not recommended for transfer.
Congress was notified about the transfer of the five Yemenis 30 days in advance as required by law. The detainees had been held as wartime prisoners for almost 14 years each and none had been charged with a crime.
However, administration officials and Democrats in Congress have hinted recently that the president could unilaterally close the prison, believing it to be detrimental to national security. President Barack Obama, who campaigned on a pledge to close the prison, views it as a damaging symbol of detainee abuse but has been blocked by opposition Republican lawmakers in his efforts to shutter the military facility. A few of the prisoners were believed to be transferred to the US, Al Jazeera reported.
House Speaker Paul Ryan iterated his support for a “pathway to legal status” for illegal immigrants Sunday, but opposed a pathway to citizenship, and also rejected the much more harsh immigration plan of GOP presidential primary front-runner Donald Trump.
Obama has not ruled out closing the facility via executive action.
For years, the Obama and George W. Bush administrations had held out hope that the political and security climate of Yemen would stabilize enough that the dozens of lower-level Yemenis detained at Guantánamo could be repatriated there.
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According to secret documents released by WikiLeaks, al-Razihi, 36, was alleged to have been a member of al-Qaeda and a bodyguard for the group’s late leader, Osama bin Laden. All three were convicted and have been released from Guantanamo.
