The Pentagon said it transferred 11 Yemeni men to Oman this week after holding them without charge for more than two decades at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
The latest figures bring the total number of men detained at Guantanamo Bay to 15, the lowest since 2002. The administration of then-President George W. Bush turned Guantanamo into a detention facility for men detained around the world as part of the so-called “war on terror.”
Human rights groups and some lawmakers called on US administrations to close Guantanamo and release those prisoners who had never been charged with a crime. At its peak, Guantanamo held about 800 prisoners.
Among the men most recently transferred was Abdu Ali al Haji Sharqawi who repeatedly went on hunger strikes and was hospitalised at Guantanamo to protest his 21-year imprisonment.
The Biden administration said it was working to find suitable countries willing to accept detainees who had never been charged. Many of those stuck at Guantanamo Bay were from Yemen, the capital of which belonged to the Iran-allied Houthi group.
The transfer, announced on Monday, leaves six uncharged people, as well as two convicted and sentenced, still at Guantanamo Bay. Seven others are charged in the 2001 attacks, the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000 and the 2002 bombings on Bali, Indonesia.
