Five freed from Guantanamo Bay
FIVE men from Yemen have been freed from the US Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after more than a dozen years of captivity and sent to Estonia and Oman for resettlement.
It is the latest in a wave of releases that have alarmed political opponents of closing the detention centre housing terror suspects.
Four of the men went to Oman and the other to Estonia, the first time either nation accepted Guantanamo prisoners for resettlement.
The men had been cleared for release since at least 2009 but the US has baulked at repatriating Guantanamo prisoners back to Yemen, where the government is battling an al-Qaida uprising.
All five were captured in Pakistan and detained by the US as suspected al-Qa- ida fighters. US officials later determined it was no longer necessary to detain them but have struggled to find other countries willing to take them in. The men are in their 30s and 40s, including one who was 17 when he was sent to Guantanamo.
President Barack Obama came into office pledging to close the detention centre on the base but was blocked by Congress, which barred transferring any prisoner to the US for any reason and imposed restrictions on sending them elsewhere.
Congress eased the restrictions on transfers abroad in December 2013 and the Obama adminis- tration has stepped up the releases in recent months.
There are now 122 prisoners at Guantanamo, including 54 who have been approved for transfer. Of those cleared to leave, 47 are Yemeni and will likely have to be resettled in other countries.
The US State Department says it remains committed to closing the base. The recent releases h ave angered some members of Congress, who have argued Guantanamo is necessary to detain terrorism suspects.
“Now is not the time to be emptying Guantanamo,” Senator Kelly Ayotte said. She also warned of fresh terrorist threats.