Amnesty International welcomed the transfer but said Guantanamo would remain a “glaring and long-standing blemish” on human rights in the United States.
The United States has transferred 11 Yemeni detainees from its notorious Guantanamo Bay detention center to Oman after holding them for more than two decades without charges as part of Washington’s so-called “war on terror.”
“The United States appreciates the willingness of the Government of Oman and other partners to support ongoing U.S. efforts to responsibly reduce the prison population and ultimately close the Guantanamo Bay facilities,” it said. Monday evening the American Department of Defense in a press release.
The US-based Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) said that among the 11 detainees transferred to Oman this week was Sharqawi al-Hajj, who had suffered hunger strikes and repeated hospitalizations at Guantanamo for protest against his 21 years in prison, after two years of detention and torture by the CIA.
“Our hearts go out to Mr. Al Hajj as he transitions to the free world after nearly 23 years in captivity. His release is full of hope for him and for us,” said Pardiss Kebriaei, a lawyer at the CCR who represents al-Hajj.
Only 15 detainees remain at Guantanamo, down from a peak of nearly 800 in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 al-Qaeda attacks, when then-US President George W. Bush created the camp. Guantanamo prisoners to detain suspects indefinitely and without charge. and reject legal challenges to their detention.
Hundreds of mostly Muslim men were captured in dozens of countries as part of the US-led so-called “war on terror”, which also involved US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as covert military operations elsewhere in the world.
Conditions at Guantanamo Bay and the treatment of detainees have long sparked protests from human rights groups and United Nations experts, who have condemned the prison as a site of “unprecedented notoriety”.
Welcoming the release of the 11 people, Amnesty International said that “the Guantanamo Bay military detention center constitutes a glaring and long-standing stain on the human rights record of the United States.”
Last month, US authorities released several Guantanamo prisoners, including Tunisian national Ridah bin Saleh al-Yazidi, who had been held at the prison since it opened in 2002 without ever being charged. Mohammed Abdul Malik Bajabu, arrested in Kenya in 2007, and two Malaysian men detained for 18 years without charge were also released.
Successive US administrations have faced calls to close Guantanamo or, at least, release all detainees who have never been charged with a crime. Outgoing President Joe Biden pledged before his election in 2020 to try to close Guantanamo, but it remains operational just weeks before his departure.
Biden administration officials said they are working to identify suitable countries willing to take in Guantanamo detainees who have never been charged with a crime.
The CCR said that of the 15 men remaining at Guantanamo, six were not charged and three of them were allowed to be transferred from the United States.
The Defense Department said that of the other nine detainees, two were convicted and sentenced, and seven were indicted for the bombing of the warship USS Cole in 2000 as well as the 9/11 attacks. September 2001 and the 2002 bombings of the warship USS Cole. the resort island of Bali.
