US Transfers Yemeni Detainees from Guantanamo to Oman, Reducing Prison Population

Tuesday 07 January 2025 - 11:03

The United States has transferred 11 Yemeni detainees from the Guantanamo Bay detention center to Oman, marking a significant step in the ongoing reduction of the prison population, the Pentagon confirmed on Monday. This move nearly halves the number of remaining prisoners at the facility.

Among the detainees released are Tawfiq al-Bihani, who had been cleared for transfer since 2010, Khalid Qassim, a long-term hunger striker who had spent the majority of his adult life in Guantanamo, and Hassan bin Attash, captured during a security raid in Pakistan in 2002. His older brother, Walid bin Attash, remains detained at Guantanamo and is a defendant in a military tribunal, facing accusations related to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Notably, none of the detainees in this transfer had been charged with a crime or tried during their two decades of detention. All had been approved for transfer by national security officials, yet they remained at Guantanamo due to legal concerns about returning them to Yemen, a country embroiled in civil war and deemed too unstable for their rehabilitation.

With this transfer, only 15 detainees remain at Guantanamo, the smallest population in the prison’s 22-year history. Since its opening, approximately 780 individuals have passed through the facility.

In recent weeks, there has been a notable increase in transfers as the current U.S. administration seeks to further reduce the detainee population before the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump. Trump has previously expressed his intention to keep Guantanamo operational and fill it with more detainees. During his first term, he overturned an Obama-era directive aimed at closing the facility, issuing an executive order to keep it open.

In a statement, the U.S. military expressed gratitude for the support of Oman and other partners in efforts to responsibly reduce the Guantanamo detainee population and work toward the eventual closure of the facility.

Guantanamo Bay, located on a U.S. naval base in southeastern Cuba, has been a focal point of international criticism throughout its existence. Established following the "war on terror," it has become a symbol of post-9/11 human rights violations, with persistent concerns regarding indefinite detention without trial and the use of controversial interrogation methods.