Canada to award millions to former Guantanamo inmate: reports

Yahoo – AFP, July 4, 2017

A guard tower outside the fencing of Camp 5 at the US Military's Prison in
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Canadian Omar Khadr, who is reportedly set to be
awarded millions of dollars of compensation by his government, spent ten
years at the detenteion camp. (AFP Photo/Thomas WATKINS)

Montreal (AFP) - Canada is set to apologize and award millions of dollars of compensation to a former Guantanamo detainee who was captured in Afghanistan at the age of 15 and pleaded guilty to killing a US soldier, reports said Tuesday.

Omar Khadr will receive at least Can$10 million ($8 million US) from the federal government for the treatment he was subjected to during his captivity, according to reports in the Globe and Mail and Toronto Star which cited anonymous sources.

Khadr, a Canadian citizen, became the youngest prisoner at the US detention camp in Cuba following his capture from Afghanistan in 2002.

Canada's Supreme Court in 2010 ruled that his rights had been violated by Ottawa, which shared statements he made to Canadian officials with the United States.

While at Guantanamo, he was sentenced in 2010 to eight years plus time already served for murdering a US soldier with a grenade, attempted murder, conspiracy, providing material support for terrorism and spying.

He won the right to be extradited and was sent home to Canada in 2012 to serve the remainder of his sentence.

His lawyers fought for several years to have his status as a minor at the time of the attack recognized. Canada's Supreme Court finally agreed one week before his conditional release in 2015.

His legal team was pursuing Can$20 million against the Canadian government because his rights as a prisoner were violated.

Public Safety Canada said the government was not in a position to provide additional information owing to the strictly confidential nature of the case.

"There is a judicial process underway that has been underway for a number of years now, and we are anticipating, like I think a number of people are, that that judicial process is coming to its conclusion," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters in Ireland.

The ruling has precedent. In March, Ottawa apologized to three of its citizens who were tortured in Syria, allegedly with the indirect participation of Canadian officials.

The government said it had settled civil suits with three Canadian nationals -- Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Abou Elmaati and Muayyed Nureddin -- who were arrested and tortured in Syrian custody just after the 9/11 attacks and detained until 2004.

In a similar case, Canadian computer engineer Maher Arar was tortured in a Damascus prison in 2002, after he was transferred there by US officials based on a Canadian tip-off.

But Arar was later cleared of any suspicion by the Canadian authorities, and in January 2007 won an apology from then prime minister Stephen Harper and Can$10 million in compensation from the Canadian government.

Four Yemenis freed from Guantanamo arrive in Saudi Arabia

Yahoo – AFP, Abdulhadi Habtoor, January 5, 2017

A former Yemeni inmate, released from the US military prison in Guantanamo
Bay, is welcomed by his family upon his arrival in Riyadh on January 5, 2017
(AFP Photo/STRINGER)

Riyadh (AFP) - Four Yemenis released from the US prison at Guantanamo Bay arrived Thursday in Saudi Arabia to a tearful reunion with relatives, after the White House rejected Donald Trump's call for a freeze on transfers.

The Pentagon confirmed the detainee transfers, and said there are now 55 inmates still being held in the military detention centre in Cuba.

In the Saudi capital, an AFP reporter saw the four prisoners after they landed at a terminal normally reserved for royals at the Riyadh international airport.

Prisoners and family members wept as they saw each other for the first time in years.

One of the released inmates, Salim Ahmed bin Kanad, told reporters he felt "born again" after seeing his relatives.

Another, Mohammed Bawazir, said he hoped to move on and forget the past.

"I want to give back to my family the 15 years I lost," he said.

Officials identified the other former prisoners as Mohammed Rajab Abu Ghanim and Abdullah Yahya al-Shalabi.

"The United States is grateful to the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its humanitarian gesture and willingness to support ongoing US efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility," the Pentagon said.

Outgoing US President Barack Obama's pledge to close the Guantanamo Bay facility has been met with legal and political hurdles for years, and on Tuesday, his successor jumped into the fray.

"There should be no further releases from Gitmo. These are extremely dangerous people and should not be allowed back onto the battlefield," Trump tweeted.

Hours later, Obama's spokesman Josh Earnest said he would expect "additional transfers" before the Democrat hands power to Trump on January 20.

Saudi King Salman has said the four Yemenis who arrived Thursday will live in the kingdom, where they will take part in a rehabilitation and de-radicalisation programme, the interior ministry said in a statement.

The bearded ex-prisoners appeared healthy and were all dressed in two-piece Pakistani-style tunics.

One prisoner was welcomed by 21 relatives, including children, but only a handful greeted the others.

A lone woman waited for one of the inmates.

Reporters were kept in the terminal and could not see what type of aircraft had transported them.

Prisoners and family members wept as they saw each other 

for the first time in years (AFP Photo/STRINGER)

Whittling down numbers

Obama came to office eight years ago vowing to close the Guantanamo facility, arguing that detention without trial did not reflect American values.

But he has run up against Pentagon foot-dragging and stubborn Republican opposition in Congress.

With Guantanamo's closure blocked, Obama's White House has focused on whittling down the number of inmates.

Before Thursday's transfer, around 20 of the remaining prisoners had been cleared for removal. But finding countries to take them has often proven time-consuming.

Only a handful of those who remain have started moving through military tribunals, including the alleged plotters of the 9/11 attacks.

Many of the others are in legal limbo -- not charged but deemed too dangerous to release.

Fifteen of the 19 Al-Qaeda hijackers who carried out the attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001 were Saudi. But Riyadh denies any ties to the plotters who killed nearly 3,000 people.

In recent months, Obama has authorised a flurry of transfers of prisoners to other countries -- prompting outrage from Republicans each time.

In April, nine Yemeni inmates were transferred from Guantanamo Bay to Saudi Arabia, the first time the kingdom received any inmates from the facility.

The move followed years of negotiations with the Saudi government.

Yemen's civil war meant those inmates could not be sent to their home country.

Obama's predecessor George W. Bush released or transferred around 500 inmates before leaving office. Obama had released or transferred more than 180.

Guantanamo prison author arrives back in Mauritania

Yahoo – AFP, October 17, 2016

The US flag flies above the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (AFP
Photo/Paul J. Richards)

Nouakchott (AFP) - A longtime Guantanamo Bay prisoner who wrote a best-selling book about his experiences in the controversial military prison was back in his native Mauritania on Monday night, Mauritanian sources said.

The transfer of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, believed to be the last inmate from Mauritania held at the facility in Cuba, brings the prison's remaining population down to 60.

His case became a cause celebre after the publication last year of "Guantanamo Diary", in which he outlines his treatment at the notorious US naval base in Cuba and says he was subjected to torture.

Mauritania's official AMI news agency confirmed "the return by the American authorities to their Mauritanian counterparts Mohamedou Ould Sellahy (or Slahi) after his release from Guantanamo."

AMI said the handover was the result of "diplomatic efforts over many years at the highest levels."

The US Defense Department announced his release in an earlier statement and said it was "grateful to the government of Mauritania for its humanitarian gesture and willingness to support ongoing US efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility."

The younger brother of Mohamedou Ould Slahi poses with a copy of 

Mohamedou's prison memoir 'Guantanamo Diary' open to show pages that 

were redacted by the US government in London on January 20, 2015

(AFP Photo/Beb Stansall)

Slahi, 45, was detained in his home country following the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001, on suspicion of involvement in an unsuccessful plot to bomb Los Angeles in 1999.

He was taken to Guantanamo in August 2002 following interrogation in Jordan and Afghanistan.

In his book, Slahi described the toll of life inside the jail, saying: "I started to hallucinate and hear voices as clear as crystal. I heard my family in a casual familial conversation ... I heard Koran readings in a heavenly voice."

He added: "I was on the edge of losing my mind."

A Mauritanian security source told AFP Slahi had arrived in the capital Nouakchott on Monday in a US military plane, and was met by the Mauritanian security services.

"He will not be free to move around immediately but has to be interviewed by the security services before being released," the source said.

US President Barack Obama wants to close the Guantanamo jail before he leaves office, but his efforts have faced stiff Republican opposition and time to shutter the prison is running out fast.

Still, the United States has in recent months accelerated the rate at which detainees who have been approved for transfer are released from the facility.

When Obama took office, there were 242 detainees at Guantanamo.

US makes major Guantanamo transfer to UAE

Yahoo – AFP, Thomas Watkins, August 16, 2016

The transfer of 15 prisoners to the United Arab Emirates reduces Guantanamo
Bay's inmate population to 61 (AFP Photo/John Moore)

Washington (AFP) - Fifteen Guantanamo Bay detainees have been transferred to the United Arab Emirates, the largest such release in years, the Pentagon announced.

The latest transfers bring the remaining population of the detention center down to 61. Since the September 11, 2001 attacks, about 780 inmates have been housed in the US military-run facility.

According to a State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, 12 of the men are from Yemen and three are Afghans.

The Pentagon has previously struggled to find a third country to take Yemeni detainees, given that they can't go home because of the civil war in their nation.

"The United States is grateful to the government of the United Arab Emirates for its humanitarian gesture and willingness to support ongoing US efforts to close" Guantanamo, the Pentagon said in a statement.

Once transferred, former inmates are usually freed subject to supervision and undergoing rehabilitation programs.

Amnesty International USA welcomed the announcement as a sign President Barack Obama is serious about closing the controversial facility before he leaves office.

Guantanamo Bay (AFP Photo/AFP)

"It's a significant repudiation of the idea that Guantanamo is going to be open for business for the indefinite future," Naureen Shah, Amnesty International USA's security and human rights program director, told AFP.

One of those transferred is an Afghan called Obaidullah, who allegedly had hidden land mines in 2001. He was detained for 14 years without trial.

Monday's announcement represents the largest transfer of prisoners under the Democratic Obama administration.

"The continued operation of the detention facility weakens our national security by draining resources, damaging our relationships with key allies and partners, and emboldening violent extremists," Ambassador Lee Wolosky, the special envoy for Guantanamo closure, said in a statement.

"The support of our friends and allies -– like the UAE -- is critical to our achieving this shared goal."

Obama urgently wants to close the facility before he leaves office at the start of next year but has been continually thwarted by Republican lawmakers.

Closure a long shot

Still, the United States has in recent months accelerated the rate at which detainees who have been approved for transfer are released from the facility.

When Obama took office, there were 242 detainees at Guantanamo.

Monday's announcement means 19 inmates will remain who have been cleared for transfer.

Obama wants to send the rest, deemed to be the most dangerous, for incarceration in the United States -- but that is an extreme long shot given Republican opposition.

In February, the president presented Congress with a new closure plan for Guantanamo, which he says serves only to stoke anti-US resentment and fuel jihadist recruitment.

Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte recently renewed calls to keep Guantanamo open and published an unclassified report on 107 current and former detainees that she said highlighted their terrorist pasts.

November's election will likely help determine the future of the notorious prison, as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has vowed to fill Guantanamo with "bad dudes" should he win the White House.

Trump has said he would "bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding."

To date, just 10 of the detainees face criminal trial, including the "9/11 Five" -- led by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed -- who are accused of plotting the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Shah said it was important for Obama to push ahead with plans to shutter Guantanamo, or the next administration could start filling its cells with suspected jihadists captured in the campaign against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.

"We are at an extremely dangerous and pivotal point where if President Obama fails to close Guantanamo then the next administration could bring more detainees there," Shah said.

Guantanamo is a US naval base carved out of a remote chunk of land on the tip of southeastern Cuba.

The administration of George W. Bush opened a prison there to hold terror suspects.

US transfers two Guantanamo detainees to Serbia: Pentagon

Yahoo – AFP, 11 Jul 2016

The US flag flies above the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (AFP
Photo/Paul J. Richards)

Washington (AFP) - The Pentagon on Monday transferred two Guantanamo detainees, one Yemeni and the other Tajik, to Serbia, bringing the population of the controversial US military prison to 76.

Tajik national Muhammadi Davlatov and Yemeni Mansur Ahmad Saad al-Dayfi were both unanimously approved for transfer by six US government departments and agencies, the State Department said.

President Barack Obama, as one of his first official acts after being elected in 2008, vowed to empty and shutter the notorious "war on terror" prison, which critics feel has tarnished America's reputation because of treatment deemed inhumane to the inmates there.

"As directed by the president's January 22, 2009, executive order, the interagency Guantanamo Review Task Force conducted a comprehensive review" of Davlatov's case and unanimously approved his transfer, a Pentagon statement said.

US defense, homeland security and other officials determined late last year that continued imprisonment of al-Dayfi "does not remain necessary to protect against a continuing significant threat to the security of the United States."

The Defense Department statement thanked Serbia "for its humanitarian gesture and willingness to support ongoing US efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility" -- a sentiment echoed by US Secretary of State John Kerry.

"The United States appreciates the generous assistance of Serbia as the United States continues its efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility," Kerry said in a statement.

"This significant humanitarian gesture is consistent with Serbia's leadership on the global stage."

The United States has in recent months accelerated the rate at which detainees who have been approved for transfer are released from the facility, which Obama urgently wants to close before he leaves office at the start of next year.

Guantanamo is a US naval base carved out of a remote chunk of land on the tip of southeastern Cuba. The administration of George W. Bush opened a prison there to hold terror suspects.

The Guantanamo prison has held about 780 inmates in all since it was opened shortly after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.

Transfers have been slowed because many inmates were from war-torn Yemen, and so had to be returned to a third country that can provide rehabilitation and monitoring.

Obama would like to send inmates deemed to be the most dangerous for incarceration in the United States but Republican lawmakers have steadfastly resisted any such move.

US transfers Guantanamo inmate to Italy: official

Yahoo – AFP, July 10, 2016

According to US government statistics, about 13 percent of prisoners freed from
 Guantanamo since Obama began his first term have returned to violent extremism
(AFP Photo/Mladen Antonov)

Washington (AFP) - The United States has transferred Saudi-born Yemeni inmate Fayiz Ahmad Yahia Suleiman to Italy, the Pentagon announced Sunday, as President Barack Obama seeks to close the reviled American military detention center in Cuba.

The 41-year-old, who was recommended for transfer in January 2010 by the Guantanamo Review Task Force, was originally brought to Guantanamo Bay in January 2002.

"In accordance with statutory requirements, the secretary of defense informed Congress of the United States' intent to transfer this individual and of the secretary (of defense)'s determination that this transfer meets the statutory standard," a Pentagon statement said.

"The United States is grateful to the government of Italy for its humanitarian gesture and willingness to support ongoing US efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. The United States coordinated with the government of Italy to ensure this transfer took place consistent with appropriate security and humane treatment measures."

A total of 78 inmates now remain at Guantanamo, which Obama took action to begin closing in one of his first acts as president. Yemenis account for the biggest group of detainees.

Obama has been unable to fulfill his long-held campaign promise due to opposition from the Republican-held Congress, concerns at home over plans to hold one-time terror suspects on US soil and the reluctance of allies to take in the prisoners.

Some of those concerns have crystallized in recent days after the disappearance of a former Guantanamo inmate in Uruguay, where he had been resettled in 2014 along with five other ex-detainees.

Jihad Diyab -- a 44-year-old Syrian -- went off the South American country's radar several weeks ago after apparently evading border controls and crossing into Brazil.

According to US government statistics, about 13 percent of prisoners freed from Guantanamo since Obama began his first term have returned to violent extremism or are believed to have done so, down from 35 percent under his predecessor George W. Bush.

Paul Lewis, the Pentagon's special envoy for Guantanamo closure, said that 14 ex-prisoners have gone on to participate in attacks that killed Americans.

In February, with less than a year left in his term, Obama released a last-ditch plan to close the facility, hoping to speed up the resettlement of all but 46 of the remaining prisoners, for whom he hopes to find alternate, secure detention centers in the United States.

All those he is seeking to resettle abroad have been deemed eligible for transfer.

US transfers nine Yemeni inmates from Guantanamo to Saudi Arabia

Yahoo – AFP, April 16, 2016

Part of the US Guantanamo Bay Naval Base is seen from La Gobernadora viewpoint
 in Guantanamo province, Cuba on March 13, 2016 (AFP Photo/Nicolas Garcia)

Washington (AFP) - The Pentagon on Saturday announced the transfer of nine Yemeni inmates from Guantanamo Bay to Saudi Arabia, bringing the remaining population at the controversial military prison down to 80.

The United States has in recent months accelerated the rate at which detainees who have been approved for transfer are released from the facility, which President Barack Obama wants to close before his term ends at the end of the year.

US President Barack Obama delivers a 

statement on the Guantanamo Bay 

detention camp on February 23, 2016 in

 the Roosevelt Room of the White House in

Washington, DC (AFP Photo/Mandel Ngan)

Saturday's release marks the largest transfer since 10 Yemenis were sent to Oman in January. It is the first time Saudi Arabia has taken any former Guantanamo inmates.

"The United States is grateful to the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its humanitarian gesture and willingness to support ongoing US efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility," the Pentagon said in a statement.

The men arrived in Saudi Arabia earlier on Saturday. Most had been cleared for release years ago, but faced delays owing in part to their home country descending into civil war, meaning they could not be repatriated.

The nine inmates are: Ahmed Umar Abdullah Al-Hikimi, Abdul Rahman Mohammed Saleh Nasir, Ali Yahya Mahdi Al-Raimi, Tariq Ali Abdullah Ahmed Ba Odah, Muhammed Abdullah Muhammed Al-Hamiri, Ahmed Yaslam Said Kuman, Abd al Rahman Al-Qyati, Mansour Muhammed Ali Al-Qatta, and Mashur Abdullah Muqbil Ahmed Al-Sabri.

Of the 80 remaining inmates, 26 have been approved for transfer. Obama wants to send the rest, deemed to be the most dangerous, for incarceration in the United States but Republican lawmakers have steadfastly resisted any such move.

Guantanamo is a US naval base carved out of a remote chunk of land on the tip of southeastern Cuba. The administration of George W. Bush opened a prison there to hold terror suspects soon after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.

In all, it has housed about 780 inmates over the years.

Republican presidential candidates have vowed that, if elected, they would send more terror suspects to Guantanamo instead of closing it.

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Guantanamo population below 100 as 10 Yemenis sent to Oman

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Pope Francis waves to the crowd during his general audience

at St Peter's square on December 17, 2014 at the Vatican

.

Obama, Castro hail 'new day' for US-Cuba relations

Yahoo – AFP, Andrew Beatty and Sebastian Smith, 21 March 2016

US President Barack Obama speaks during a joint press conference with Cuban

 President Raul Castro (R) after a meeting at the Revolution Palace in Havana

on March 21, 2016 (AFP Photo/Nicholas Kamm)

Havana (AFP) - Barack Obama and his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro vowed Monday in Havana to set aside their differences in pursuit of what the US president called a "new day" for the long bitterly divided neighbors.

In a sometimes comic, sometimes tetchy press conference -- which in an extremely rare move was carried live on Cuban television -- Castro refused even to acknowledge that his government holds political prisoners.

"After this meeting is over, you can give me a list of political prisoners, and if we have those political prisoners, they will all released before the night ends," he said in a sarcasm-laden response to a US journalist's question.

Cuban President Raul Castro speaks at

 a press conference with US President 

Barack Obama in Havana on March 21, 

2016 (AFP Photo/Nicholas Kamm)

However, the mere fact that the joint press conference took place in Havana's Palace of the Revolution -- after the leaders met for more than two hours -- demonstrated how much has changed.

Obama, the first US president to visit Cuba in 88 years, hailed a "new day" -- a "nuevo dia," as he said -- in relations between the former Cold War foes.

And Castro suggested the former enemies take inspiration from US endurance swimmer Diana Nyad, who in 2013 managed on her fifth attempt to become the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage.

"If she can do it, we can do it too," Castro told journalists after the leaders met in the palace -- the nerve center of the communist government that has ruled Cuba since the takeover by Raul's brother Fidel Castro in 1959.

No sharks

Trying to draw a line under past heavy-handed US intervention in the island's affairs, Obama vowed that "Cuba's destiny will not be decided by the United States or any other nation."

The US leader also said, without making any promises on timing, that "the embargo is going to end."

He insisted that Washington was not going to give up pressing for political freedoms in Cuba, where the Communist Party controls politics, the media and the economy.

The United States "will continue to speak up on behalf of democracy," Obama said.

But the US president also appeared determined to move beyond the obstacles that have long made relations with Cuba a diplomatic dead end.

"Fortunately, we don't have to swim with sharks to achieve the goals you and I have set forth," he joked, referring to Nyad's feat.

US President Barack Obama (2-L) stands next to Cuban President Raul

 Castro upon his arrival at the Revolution Palace in Havana on March 21, 

2016 (AFP Photo/Gal Roma)

History in Havana

In only his third formal meeting with Castro, Obama was greeted by a military band that played the Cuban and the US national anthems.

Under pressure back home to show that his scrapping of deeply rooted US hostility to the Castro regime will pay off, Obama then sat with the Cuban president against a backdrop of tall tropical plants.

Earlier he laid a wreath at the monument of Cuban independence hero Jose Marti. On Tuesday, he was to give an address carried live on Cuban state television, and then attend a baseball game between the national team and Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays, before flying out.

Obama's visit has raised hopes among struggling Cubans that decades of economic and political stasis may be coming to an end.

But the brief detention of dozens of pro-democracy protesters hours before Obama's arrival Sunday served as a stark reminder of the regime's iron grip on power.

And despite the excitement among ordinary Cubans, officials appeared to be taking pains to give a restrained welcome.

Castro did not greet Obama at the airport Sunday, sending his foreign minister instead, and a heavy police presence has ensured that Cubans have no chance of gathering spontaneously at any of Obama's appearances around the city.

"I think Raul does not want a warm relationship with the US. He sees it in limited terms for the moment -- tourism revenue and remittances plus the changes to the sanctions," said Paul Webster Hare, a former British ambassador to Cuba who teaches international relations at Boston University.

US President Barack Obama (2-L) stands next to Cuban President Raul 

Castro upon his arrival at the Revolution Palace in Havana on March 21, 2016

(AFP Photo/Nicholas Kamm)

Soft power

Obama's administration is betting that forcing Cuba to open up diplomatically, as well as a gradual relaxation of the embargo, will promote democratic change. But Obama is defending himself from critics who say he has given away too much.

Arriving in Havana, Obama admitted change is not going to happen "overnight."

"Change is going to happen here and I think that Raul Castro understands that," he told ABC News.

"Although we still have significant differences around human rights and individual liberties inside of Cuba, we felt that coming now would maximize our ability to prompt more change."

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Pope Francis waves to the crowd during his general audience

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Guantanamo population below 100 as 10 Yemenis sent to Oman

Yahoo – AFP, January 14, 2016

Guantanamo Bay facility opened under George W. Bush to hold terror suspects
after the September 11, 2001 attacks and became known for harsh interrogation
 techniques that some have said were tantamount to torture (AFP Photo/
Mladen Antonov)

Muscat (AFP) - Ten Yemeni former inmates from the US detention centre in Guantanamo Bay arrived in Oman on Thursday, Muscat's foreign ministry said, as Washington struggles to close the notorious prison.

The transfer is the largest to a single country at any one time under the administration of US President Barack Obama, and brings the facility's population down to 93.

About 780 inmates have been held there since it opened in January 2002. It is the first time since then the population has dropped below 100 -- a significant milestone in the facility's history.

"Just last night, after a deliberate and careful review, we completed the transfer of 10 Yemenis -- roughly 10 percent of the total remaining Gitmo population -- to the government of Oman," US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said in Florida.

"Like every transfer that came before it, the decision to transfer these detainees happened only after a thorough review by me and other senior security officials of the government."

The 10 men are: Fahed Abdullah Ahmad Ghazi, Samir Naji al-Hasan Muqbil, Adham Mohamed Ali Awad, Mukhtar Yahya Naji al-Warafi, Abu Bakr Ibn Muhammad al-Ahdal, Muhammad Salih Husayn al-Shaykh, Muhammad Said Salim Bin Salman, Said Muhammad Salih Hatim, Umar Said Salim al-Dini, and Fahmi Abdallah Ahmad Ubadi al-Tulaqi.

Oman received the men "in response to a request by the US administration for help to resolve the issue of detainees at Guantanamo Bay," the foreign ministry said in a statement carried by state news agency ONA.

The statement did not give further details, but typically Guantanamo inmates are released on condition they undergo a rehabilitation or reintegration programme to make sure they do not threaten US security interests.

Still opposed by Congress

Human rights groups welcomed the latest releases.

"Now that the Guantanamo population is below 100 for the first time in its history, the momentum to finally close Guantanamo has never been stronger," Amnesty International USA said in a statement.

"That momentum can't be lost. It's time for Congress to stop standing in the way and stop playing political games with the lives of the men who remain there. All detainees should either be tried in federal court or released."

The Republican-controlled Congress has thwarted Obama's repeated efforts to close Guantanamo.

Demonstrators take part in a protest calling for the closure of the Guantanamo

Bay prison on January 11, 2016 in front of the White House (AFP Photo/Mandel Ngan)

He came to office in 2009 vowing to shutter the facility, which opened under his predecessor George W. Bush to hold suspects after the September 11, 2001 attacks and became known for harsh interrogation techniques that some have said were tantamount to torture.

Inmates were called "enemy combatants" and denied standard US legal rights, meaning many were held for years without charge or trial.

In his final State of the Union address on Tuesday, Obama again urged Congress to help him close the detention facility.

"It's expensive, it's unnecessary and it only serves as a recruitment brochure for our enemies," he said.

But US House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul blasted Thursday's transfers, calling the move reckless.

"This month, he will have released close to 20 percent of the facility's population, even though intelligence officials suspect nearly one-third of terrorists freed from the facility have returned to the fight," he said, using a widely disputed recidivism figure.

The United States has been working to repatriate low-risk inmates from the Guantanamo facility, located at a US naval base on the southeastern tip of Cuba.

Another former Guantanamo inmate was repatriated this week to Saudi Arabia, where he was to join the kingdom's programme to rehabilitate militants.

On January 9, the last Kuwaiti prisoner at the detention centre returned home to a family reception after 14 years of detention.

And a day earlier, two other Yemeni ex-detainees were transferred to Ghana.

Another inmate leaves Guantanamo as population slowly dwindles

Yahoo – AFP, Thomas Watkins, January 8, 2016

The US military still has 104 prisoners in detention at its naval base
in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (AFP Photo/Mladen Antonov)

Washington (AFP) - The trickle of detainees leaving Guantanamo Bay continued Friday with the repatriation of a Kuwaiti man, as the general overseeing the military prison denied claims the Pentagon is stalling on shutting it down.

Faez Mohammed Ahmed Al-Kandari became the latest transfer, sent back to Kuwait after the United States determined he no longer posed a national security threat.

He had been held without trial in the Caribbean detention center since 2002, and his return to Kuwait now means the facility has a population of 104.

President Barack Obama pledged to shut Guantanamo when he took office in 2009, but his efforts have been repeatedly thwarted by Congress.

The facility, nestled out of sight on the US naval base on the southeastern tip of Cuba, became a hated emblem of America's "war on terror."

Critics said images of inmates who were clad in orange jumpsuits and held in cages, along with a lack of legal recourse, inflamed anti-American sentiment in the Middle East and was used as a jihadist propaganda tool.

In all, 45 of the remaining inmates have been approved for transfer, and the Pentagon is trying to find countries to take them. Many are from Yemen and cannot go back given the country's collapse into civil war.

US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter in December signed off on 17 of the 45 to be transferred as soon as this month, so officials say a further flurry of releases is expected in the coming weeks.

Even if all 45 are released, the remaining inmates are expected to stay in indefinite detention. These include the "9/11 Five," a group of five men accused of plotting the September 11, 2001 attacks that unfolded in New York, at the Pentagon and in the skies over Pennsylvania.

Guantanamo North

Obama wants the remaining men to be transferred to federal facilities in the United States and has asked the Pentagon to come up with proposals for a "Guantanamo North."

But delays, bureaucratic hurdles and political opposition mean it is increasingly likely the clock will tick down on his presidency before Guantanamo closes.

Opponents also point to some former inmates having returned to fight against US interests.

Recent media reports cited unnamed officials claiming the Pentagon is deliberately slowing the process through which the men cleared for transfer are released.

"The fact that there was reporting about (the Pentagon) in any way, shape or form slowing down or trying to impede the release of detainees from my perspective is complete nonsense," said General John Kelly, who is retiring as head of the US Southern Command and spent the past three years overseeing Guantanamo.

Reports suggested Guantanamo officials were slow to respond to records requests from visiting foreign delegations considering taking prisoners.

"It's an insult frankly," Kelly said.

'Committed' Al-Qaeda member

In the case of Kandari, the Pentagon released virtually no information about the detainee, as is typically the case with Guantanamo inmates.

According to his leaked 2008 prison file, published by WikiLeaks and the New York Times, the 40-year-old was a "committed member" of Al-Qaeda and was an influential religious figure for the group's fighters in Afghanistan.

He was initially captured in December 2001 and sent to Guantanamo in May the following year.

On Wednesday, detainees Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih al-Dhuby, both from Yemen, were transferred to Ghana.

Since 2002, a total of 779 detainees have been held at Guantanamo. Inmates are kept without recourse to the regular US legal processes and some likely will die in prison without ever being convicted of a crime.

Related Article:

Two Guantanamo detainees transferred to Ghana: Pentagon