Biden sends Guantanamo detainee back home to Morocco

The administration of US President Joe Biden transferred its first detainee out of Guantanamo Bay yesterday, in an attempt to continue his successor Barack Obama’s efforts to close the notorious prison.

The US transferred Abdul Latif Nasser to his home country of Morocco, where he will go free but be under Moroccan government surveillance.

The US Defence Department says Mr Nasser fought against American troops alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001, but he has never been formally charged with a crime.

“The Biden administration remains dedicated to a deliberate and thorough process focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately the closing of the Guantanamo facility,” a senior US official said.

A review board in 2016 found that Mr Nasser’s detention was no longer necessary to US national security interests. But his transfer to Morocco failed to take place before former president Donald Trump took office.

Mr Trump halted all detainee transfers out of Guantanamo Bay, although he never fulfilled his 2016 campaign pledge to “load up” the prison with “bad dudes”.

Following Mr Nasser’s transfer, the prison houses 39 detainees, costing US taxpayers more than $400 million a year. The prison contained about 800 inmates at its peak during the George W Bush administration.

When Mr Obama took office, 242 detainees remained at Guantanamo, and he brought that number down to 41 by the time he left office by transferring them to third-party countries despite significant congressional opposition.

The review board has also recommended the transfer of 10 of the 39 detainees remaining in Guantanamo, and 17 are eligible for review. Another 10 detainees are involved in trials by a military commission. Two have been convicted.

Democrats in the House of Representatives advanced legislation over Republican objections last month that would stop funding the Guantanamo Bay prison.

Previous efforts by House Democrats to close the prison under the Trump administration did not advance amid opposition in the Republican-held Senate.