US transfers 11 Yemeni prisoners from Guantanamo Bay to Oman

Relocation cuts number of prisoners at detention site to all-time low of 15

Prayers for 'enemy combatants' at the US detention centre in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in October 2009. Getty Images

The US transferred 11 Yemeni prisoners from its detention centre in Guantanamo Bay to Oman, the latest effort to close the site on Cuba.

The Pentagon said Monday that 15 remained there after the transfer – the lowest number in its history. All the Yemeni men were held there for more than two decades without charge.

The detention centre was opened on January 11, 2002, by President George W Bush to hold terrorism suspects and illegal enemy combatants following the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.

“The United States appreciates the willingness of the government of Oman and other partners to support ongoing US efforts focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately closing the Guantanamo Bay facility,” the US military said in a statement.

The Sultanate of Oman did not acknowledge taking in the prisoners as of Tuesday. However, the West's ally has taken in over two dozen prisoners since the opening of the prison.

In October last year, the US was scheduled to transfer 11 detainees from its Guantanamo Bay detention camp to Oman in October, but plans were aborted at the last minute, apparently due to the Hamas-led attack on Israel.

Guantanamo held about 800 detainees at its peak and sparked widespread controversy over the abuse and brutal interrogation techniques such as waterboarding employed under the Bush administration, as well as detaining prisoners without charges.

Although then US President Barack Obama pledged to close the infamous prison, the government faced hurdles as the Congress did not allow the transfer of detainees to US states and to certain countries, including those with ongoing conflicts such as Yemen.

Donald Trump, in his first term as president, opposed the closing of Guantanamo Bay, saying the move would make the US look weak on fighting terrorism. The facility held about 40 detainees at the start of the Biden administration. The latest transfer is a final push by the current President Joe Biden to shut the site before the end of his term.

The men in the latest transfer included Sharqawi al Hajj, who has gone on repeated hunger strikes at Guantanamo to protest against his 21 years in prison, preceded by two years of detention and torture in CIA custody, according to the US-based Centre for Constitutional Rights.

The other 10 men transferred as named by the Pentagon are Uthman Abd al-Rahim Muhammad Uthman, Moath Hamza Ahmed al-Alwi, Khalid Ahmed Qassim, Suhayl Abdul Anam al Sharabi, Hani Saleh Rashid Abdullah, Tawfiq Nasir Awad Al-Bihani, Omar Mohammed Ali al-Rammah, Sanad Ali Yislam Al Kazimi, Hassan Muhammad Ali Bib Attash and Abd Al-Salam Al-Hilah.

Of the remaining 15, the Pentagon said three are eligible for transfer and another three are eligible for a periodic review board to examine their cases. The remainder have been charged or convicted of war crimes.

Responding to the US decision, Amnesty International USA said it was "long overdue".

“We commend President Biden for taking this step before he leaves office and urge him to finally end the abhorrent US practice of indefinite detention without charge or trial at Guantanamo by transferring the remaining detainees who have never been charged with crimes," Daphne Eviatar, director of the Security with Human Rights programme at Amnesty, said in a statement. "This would be a tremendous achievement of his presidency."

Ms Eviatar also said the US government now has an obligation to ensure that the government of Oman will respect and protect the prisoners' human rights.