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U.S. Repatriates 12 Guantanamo Detainees
December 21, 2009 9:57 a.m. EST
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Topics: World, United States, Politics
Kris Alingod - AHN Contributor
Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) - The Obama administration has repatriated a dozen detainees from the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba as part of its goal of shuttering the prison by a self-imposed deadline of Jan. 22.
Four Afghans, Abdul Hafiz, Mohammed Hashim, Sharifullah and Mohamed Rahim, were sent back to Afghanistan, over the weekend, according to the Justice Department. Two Somalis, Ismael Arale and Mohammed Soliman Barre, were transferred to the Somaliland region.
Six Yemenis also went home: Jamal Muhammad Alawi Mari, Farouq Ali Ahmed, Ayman Saeed Abdullah Batarfi, Muhammaed Yasir Ahmed Taher, Fayad Yahya Ahmed al Rami and Riyad Atiq Ali Abdu al Haf.
The Justice Department informed Congress 15 days before the transfer about its repatriation of the prisoners, which was conducted after the administration's Guantanamo Review Task Force examined factors such as "potential threat, mitigation measures and the likelihood of success in habeas litigation," the Department said.
More than 560 prisoners have left the controversial facility since the Bush administration opened it in 2002.
The administration announced last week the transfer of detainees to Thomson Correctional Center, a nearly empty correctional facility in northwestern Illinois, ahead of their prosecution.
Local and state officials have been in talks with the White House for over a month about the federal government's purchase of the center, a maximum security prison with 1,600 cells and located 150 miles of Chicago, following the suggestion of a local official. The administration's operation of the prison would improve employment and inject $1 billion into the local economy, but Republicans have warned it would put Chicago at risk of terror plots.
Last month, the Justice Department said it would bring five prisoners suspected of the 9/11 attacks before U.S. courts, amid criticisms from conservatives about the use of civilian courts, instead of military commissions, to prosecute the suspects. No date has been set for the trial of Walid Muhammed Salih Mubarak Bin Attash, Ramzi Bin Al Shibh, Ali Abdul-Aziz Ali, Mustafa Ahmed Al Hawsawi and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, allegedly the mastermind of the attacks.
Attorney General Eric Holder had said prosecutors would seek the death penalty for each of the 9/11 suspects. He also assured Congress the suspects would not have a platform to preach their beliefs as a result of the trial.
"Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will have no more of a platform to spew his hateful ideology in federal court than he would have in military commissions," Holder had said in a congressional hearing. "Before the commissions last year, he declared the proceedings an 'inquisition,' condemned his own attorneys and our Constitution, and professed his desire to become a martyr. Those proceedings were heavily covered in the media, yet few complained at the time that his rants threatened the fabric of our democracy."
The efforts to shutter Guantanamo, where the Bush administration used controversial interrogation techniques such as waterboarding, began two days after the new administration was inaugurated, when President Barack Obama signed an executive order closing the prison in a year.
Republicans oppose shuttering the facility because the nation is still at war, and they say no other facility is capable of "safely and humanely" holding top terror suspects.
Congress has passed legislation allowing detainees into U.S. soil only for prosecution. The Military Commissions Act of 2009 bans the release of Guantanamo prisoners to the United States but allows them to be transferred for trial 45 days after the administration submits an assessment to Congress of the risks involved in doing so.
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