US sends 11 Guantnamo prisoners to Oman to start new lives

The US military sent 11 Yemeni prisoners from Guantnamo Bay to Oman to restart their lives, the Pentagon said Monday, leaving only 15 men in prison in a bold move at the end of the Biden administration that left the prison population smaller than ever. times in its more than 20 years of history.

None of the released men had been charged with crimes during their two decades of detention. Today, all but six of the remaining prisoners have been charged or convicted of war crimes.

There were 40 inmates when President Biden took office and revived the Obama administration's efforts to close the prison.

The Pentagon carried out the covert operation in the early hours of Monday, days before Guantnamo's most famous prisoner, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, pleaded guilty to plotting the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. in exchange for their lives. rather than face the death penalty.

The move had been in the works for about three years. An initial plan to move forward in October 2023 was derailed by congressional opposition.

Among the 11 people released was Moath al-Alwi, a former longtime hunger striker who made his name in the art world by building model ships from items found in the Guantnamo prison ; Abdulsalam al-Hela, whose testimony was requested by defense attorneys in the USS Cole case; and Hassan Bin Attash, the younger brother of a defendant in the 9/11 conspiracy case.

All prisoners were cleared for transfer through federal national security review boards.

U.S. officials declined to say what the United States had given to Oman, one of the United States' most stable allies in the Middle East, and what guarantees it had received in return. By law, the military cannot send prisoners from Guantnamo to Yemen because, as a nation caught in a brutal civil war, it is considered too unstable to monitor and rehabilitate returnees.

The United States generally provides stipends to host countries for housing, education, rehabilitation and to monitor the men's activities. The United States has also asked host countries to prevent former Guantnamo detainees from traveling abroad for at least two years.

Few details of the rehabilitation program have emerged from Oman, an island nation ruled by a sultan. Saudi Arabia showed its reintegration center for Guantnamo detainees to journalists and academics, but not Oman.

U.S. officials have called Oman's program well-balanced and designed to help Yemenis reintegrate into society with jobs, housing and families, most through arranged marriages.

The Obama administration sent 30 detainees to Oman between 2015 and 2017. One man died there, but the others were sent home, 27 to Yemen and two to Afghanistan, according to a State Department official, who said is expressed on condition of anonymity due to sensitivity. diplomatic negotiations.

Many Yemenis married and had children in Oman and were repatriated with their families.

Yemeni prisoners at Guantnamo have been briefed on the successes in making Oman a desired resettlement country, said George M. Clarke, the lawyer for two of the men transferred this week.

It's not just culturally compatible, Mr. Clarke said. This is because they enjoy reasonably decent freedom and are properly and successfully integrated into society. And that's what makes reinstallation work.

The men sent to Oman were captured by US allies or taken into US custody between 2001 and 2003. Mr Clarke said they were eager to join a world of mobile phones and access to the Internet.

They want to live their lives, said Mr Clarke, who represents Tawfiq al-Bihani and Mr Bin Attash. They want to get married. They want to have children. They want to find a job and lead a normal life.

In October 2023, a military cargo plane and security team were already at Guantnamo Bay transporting the 11 detainees to Oman when congressional objections led the Biden administration to abandon the mission, which finally took place this week.

At the time, the prisoners who left this week had already undergone exit interviews with representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross, and guards had taken away the personal effects that would accompany them.

Over the next year, Tina S. Kaidanow, the Biden administration's envoy for Guantnamo affairs, kept the deal viable through negotiations, travel, and meetings within the U.S. government. and with the host country, the State Department official said. Ms. Kaidanow died in October.

Three other Guantnamo prisoners are eligible for transfer, including a stateless Rohingya, a Libyan and a Somali.

Additionally, the State Department sought a country capable of receiving and providing health care to a disabled Iraqi who pleaded guilty to commanding irregular forces in wartime Afghanistan. U.S. officials are considering sending him to a prison in Baghdad, but he is suing the Biden administration to thwart the transfer on the grounds that he would be at risk in his home country.

The Guantanamo detention area is now an emptier and calmer place than it once was.

The remaining 15 inmates are held in two prison buildings that can accommodate approximately 250 inmates.

The prison opened its doors on January 11, 2002, with the arrival of the first 20 inmates from Afghanistan. At its peak in 2003, the operation had around 660 prisoners and more than 2,000 soldiers and civilians commanded by a two-star general. Inmates were mostly held in open cells on a cliff overlooking the water while the prisons were being built.

The operation now has 800 soldiers and civilian contractors, 53 guards and other personnel for each detainee and is led by a junior officer, Col. Steven Kane.

Most of those returned have been repatriated to countries such as Afghanistan, Algeria, Kenya, Malaysia, Morocco, Pakistan, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia. Additionally, Belize accepted a Pakistani who pleaded guilty to war crimes and became a government cooperator. This man, Majid Khan, was joined there by his wife and daughter.

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