15 Guantanamo detainees sent to UAE in major transfer

The transfer of 12 Yemeni nationals and three Afghans to the Emirates comes amid a renewed push by the US to whittle down the number of detainees held at the prison in Cuba that president Barack Obama aims to close before he leaves office.

The Pentagon said 61 detainees now remain at the US Guantanamo Bay detention centre. Brennan Linsley / AP Photo

ABU DHABI // Fifteen prisoners detained by the United States in Guantanamo Bay have been transferred to the UAE. The transfer involved 12 Yemenis and three Afghans.

Their move, the single largest removal of detainees by the Obama administration, was part of efforts by the US to reduce the number of detainees held in the Cuban detention centre, which president Barack Obama had vowed to close before he leaves office.

On the US state department website, Mr Obama said the continued existence of “Guantanamo Bay does not advance our national security – it undermines it. It’s counterproductive to our fight against terrorists, who use it as propaganda in their efforts to recruit.”

The Pentagon said 61 detainees now remained at Guantanamo, which was opened in January 2002 to hold foreign fighters suspected of links to the Taliban or Al Qaeda.

Afghanistan’s ambassador to the UAE, Abdul Farid Zikria, said that only nine of those left were Afghans, down from a total of more than 100 in 2002.

The three Afghan prisoners that arrived in the UAE yesterday will be sent back to their home country.

“The next step is that the Afghan government will be discussing this with the UAE Government”, said Mr Zikria.

He described it as a “step-by-step process”, where the inmates will first be transferred to the UAE and then to Afghanistan.

“We wanted to do it one step at a time. Eventually they will be transferred to Afghanistan,” he said. His government, he said, was “happy” with the transfer.

“The UAE is close to Afghanistan and we have a good relationship with the Government and Rulers. We are very pleased with the move to bring the prisoners to the UAE and helping the process of the transfer back to their home country.”

Mr Zikria said that it was an international effort.

Once released to Afghanistan, he said, the government will work on integrating them and reconciling them with society.

“We have a programme for peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan where no matter what group or members of the Taliban who are coming back to Afghanistan, those who would like to live a peaceful life in the country are welcomed. It all depends on their activities,” he said.

“If they come back to live a peaceful life, as some other Taliban members who were previously in Guantanamo chose to do, we are more welcome to create the facility for them to live a peaceful life.”

The ambassador was hopeful that the remaining prisoners would soon be released to return to their home countries.

Mohammed Al Kaabi, chairman of the Emirates Human Rights Association, said: “This is not the first time the UAE has taken the initiative to help and support in solving the humanitarian problem of detainees at the Guantanamo prison.”

He said the country had previously accepted five detainees from Guantanamo in November 2015, which was "in line with its policy of support towards closing this prison that is controversial when it comes to human rights, guarantees and rights of the detainees."

Dr Albadr Alshateri, professor at the National Defence College, Abu Dhabi said: “The second batch of detainees released to UAE, after five that was transferred last year, indicates the Obama administration intention to put this irksome problem inherited from the Bush-era behind its back.”

He said that more releases from Guantanamo were expected soon.

“It is expected that similar releases might follow to other allied countries to end once and for all the Guantanamo detention, which not only is a source of embarrassment for the US, but a national security threat since the unlawful incarceration of individuals without trial helps to radicalise and recruit more terrorists.”

Dr Alshateri said the UAE was following “through with its commitment to combat terrorism by all means including efforts to rehabilitate detainees. It is important for all countries engaging in counter terrorism not to follow only kinetic means but also by non-kinetic means, especially intellectual and post-detention rehabilitation to avert recidivism.”