DETAINEE CLEARED TO LEAVE IN 2016 TRANSFERRED OUT

WASHINGTON President Joe Biden’s administration said on Monday that it had transferred its first detainee from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, a Moroccan man who had been imprisoned since 2002, lowering the population at the facility to 39.

Set up to house foreign suspects following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, the prison came to symbolize the excesses of the U.S. “war on terror” because of harsh interrogation methods 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, 56, was repatriated to Morocco. He had been cleared for release in 2016. A senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that of the remaining detainees at the prison, 10 are already eligible for transfer.

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