In the most dramatic step in years to reduce the population at the U.S. military prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, the Biden administration has transferred 11 Yemeni detainees to Oman after holding them for more than two decades without charge.
The Pentagon confirmed the resettlement of 11 Yemeni detainees from the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay to the Government of Oman on Monday, January 6, 2025.
The transfer was the latest and most significant drive by the Biden administration in its last weeks to cleanse Guantanamo of the last remaining detainees who were never charged with a crime.
Monday’s transfers were originally scheduled to happen in October 2023. Still, they were halted at the last minute due to concerns in Congress about instability in the Middle East following the Hamas attack on Israel.
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The latest release brings the total number of men detained at Guantanamo to 15. That’s the fewest since 2002 when the George W. Bush administration turned Guantanamo into a detention site for the predominantly Muslim men taken into custody around the world in what the U.S. called its “war on terror.” The U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and military and covert operations elsewhere followed the September 11, 2001, al-Qaida attacks.
The men in the latest transfer included Sharqawi al-Hajj, who had undergone repeated hunger strikes and hospitalizations at Guantanamo to protest his 21 years in prison, preceded by two years of detention and torture in CIA custody, according to the U.S.-based Center for Constitutional Rights.
Rights groups and some lawmakers have pushed successive U.S. administrations to close Guantanamo or, failing that, release all those detainees never charged with a crime. Guantanamo held about 800 detainees at its peak.
In addition to the human rights complaints, transferring prisoners to other countries represents a huge financial savings to the U.S., which spends more than a billion dollars a year on Guantánamo’s court and prison. Each inmate held there costs American taxpayers an estimated $15 million a year, compared to about $80,000 annually per inmate at a U.S. supermax facility.
The transfer announced Monday leaves six never-charged men still being held at Guantanamo, two convicted and sentenced inmates, and seven others charged with the 2001 attacks, the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, and the 2002 bombings in Bali.
As the world watches the developments unfolding in Guantánamo, it is essential to remember that the closure of the detention center is not just a matter of numbers but also of justice and human rights. The international community must continue to push for transparency, accountability, and a commitment to upholding the principles of human dignity. The transfer of these 11 Yemeni prisoners is a step in the right direction, but it is only the beginning of a long and complex process toward closure and redemption.
The question remains: what’s next for the remaining 15 detainees, and will the U.S. finally be able to close the book on this dark chapter in its history? Only time will tell.
