US Transfers 5 Yemenis From Guantanamo to UAE
VOA News
The United States has transferred five Yemeni detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the United Arab Emirates.
The five low-level detainees had been held at the U.S. military prison for more than a decade. None had been charged with a crime.
The transfers reduced the detainee population at the prison to 107, including 48 cleared for repatriation or resettlement in a third country.
Adil Said al-Busayss, Khalid Abd al-Qadasi, Ali Ahmad Muhammad al-Rahizi, Sulaiman al-Nahdi and Fahmi al-Sani were captured in 2001 by Pakistani and Afghan forces and eventually turned over to the United States.
The conflict in Yemen has made it impossible for the Obama administration to transfer detainees from there to their homeland, instead of having to negotiate resettlement within other countries.
President Obama has made closing the prison a priority, saying that militants use it as a recruiting tool, and that it has harmed the image of the United States.