Administration transfers first detainee from Guantanamo Bay

PRESIDENT Joe Biden’s administration said yesterday that it had transferred its first detainee from the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, a Moroccan man who had been imprisoned since 2002, bringing the number of inmates at the facility down to 39.

Set up to house foreign suspects following the Septembert 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, the prison came to symbolise the excesses of the US “war on terror” because of harsh interrogation methods that critics say amounted to torture.

While former president Donald Trump kept the prison open during his four years in the White House, Biden has vowed to close it.

Abdul Latif Nasir, who is 56 years old, was repatriated to Morocco.

He had been cleared for release in 2016.

“The (Biden) administration is dedicated to following a deliberate and thorough process focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population of the Guantanamo facility while also safeguarding the security of the US and its allies,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said.

Most of the prisoners left at Guantanamo Bay have been held for nearly two decades without being charged or tried.

Opened under for president George W Bush, the prison’s population grew to a peak of about 800 inmates before it started to shrink. Ex-president Barack Obama whittled down the number further, but his effort to close the prison was stymied largely by Republican opposition in Congress.

The federal government is still barred by law from transferring any inmates to prisons on the US mainland.

Even with his own Democratic party now controlling Congress, Biden has majorities so slim that he would face a tough challenge securing legislative changes because some Democrats might also oppose them.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last month that the administration was “actively looking” into recreating the position of a State Department envoy for the closure of the prison at the Guantanamo Bay naval base.