US transfers 15 Guantánamo detainees in largest single release under Obama

Baku. 16 August. REPORT.AZ/ The largest single transfer of Guantánamo Bay detainees of Barack Obama’s presidency was announced on Monday, as 15 long-held men departed the infamous detention center.

Report informs citing the Guardian, the transfer, officially announced by the Pentagon on Monday evening, brings the Guantánamo detainee population down to 61.

The United Arab Emirates, a close US ally which has accepted former Guantánamo detainees in the past, took the 12 Yemenis and three Afghan nationals, some of whom the US has held for the 14 years Guantánamo that has served as a detention facility. The Pentagon thanked the UAE for its “humanitarian gesture” and support for shuttering Guantánamo.

Six of the men had first received clearances for transfer in 2010, after a review early in the Obama administration found them eligible to leave Guantánamo and unfit for military prosecution. Their names are Abdel Qadir al-Mudafari, Muhammad Ahmad Said al-Adahi, Abdul Muhammad Ahmad Nassar al-Muhajari,Abd al-Rahman Sulayman,Mohammed Nasir Yahi Khussrof Kazazand Abd al-Muhsin Abd al-Rab Salih al-Busi.

All are Yemeni, and the administration for years cited instability in Yemen, where civil war continues today, as a reason to halt transfers to the Middle Eastern country.

Obama established a quasi-parole process to expedite transfers from Guantánamo, and between 2014 and 2016 the review system determined that the other nine detainees posed a negligible security risk. Those detainees are Mohammed Kamin, Mahmud Abd Al Aziz al-Mujahid, Saeed Ahmed Mohammed Abdullah Sarem Jarabh, Zahar Omar Hamis bin Hamdoun, Majid Mahmud Abdu Ahmed, Ayub Murshid Ali Salih, Obaidullah, Bashir Nasir Ali al-Marwalah and Hamid al-Razak – also known as Haji Hamidullah, an Afghan in his 50s.

The media reported in May that the Obama administration had reached deals with a half-dozen foreign countries to repatriate approximately two dozen detainees.

The 15-detainee transfer is the largest Guantánamo release during Obama’s presidency. While Obama released 10 Yemeni detainees to Oman in January and more Yemenis to Saudi Arabia in April, Monday’s transfer eclipsed a December 2009 release of 12 detainees to three countries.