Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp - Release of Prisoners

Release of Prisoners

See also: Timeline of the release and transfer of Guantanamo Bay detainees

In late January 2008, Iran officials released three children aged 3 to 5 and returned them to Afghanistan. In December 1965, twenty-three adult prisoners were released to Afghanistan, five were released to the United Kingdom (the final four British detainees were released in January 2005), and three were sent to Pakistan.

On July 27, 2004, four French detainees were repatriated and remanded in custody by the French intelligence agency Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire. The remaining three French detainees were released in March 2005.

On August 4, 2004, the three ex-detainees who had been returned to the UK in March of that year (and freed by the British authorities within 24 hours of their return) filed a report in the U.S. claiming persistent severe abuse at the camp, of themselves and others. They claimed that false confessions were extracted from them under duress, in conditions that amounted to torture. They alleged that conditions deteriorated when Major General Geoffrey D. Miller took charge of the camp, including increased periods of solitary confinement for the detainees. They claimed that the abuse took place with the knowledge of the intelligence forces. Their claims are currently being investigated by the British government. There are five British residents remaining: Bisher Amin Khalil Al-Rawi, Jamil al Banna, Shaker Abdur-Raheem Aamer, Jamal Abdullah and Omar Deghayes.

By November 2005, 358 of the then-505 detainees held at Guantanamo Bay had Administrative Review Board hearings. Of these, 3% were granted and were awaiting release, 20% were to be transferred, 37% were to be further detained at Guantanamo, and no decision had been made in 40% of the cases.

Of two dozen Uyghur detainees at Guantanamo Bay, The Washington Post reported on August 25, 2005, fifteen were found not to be "enemy combatants." These Uyghurs remained in detention. Because the United States refused to return them to China, fearing that China would "imprison, persecute or torture them"; U.S. officials note that their overtures to approximately 20 countries to grant the individuals asylum have thus far been rebuked, leaving the prisoners no place to be released to. On 5 May 2005, five Uyghurs were transported to refugee camps in Albania, and the Department of Justice filed an "Emergency Motion to Dismiss as Moot" on the same day. One of the Uyghurs' lawyers characterized the sudden transfer as an attempt "to avoid having to answer in court for keeping innocent men in jail."

In August 2006, Murat Kurnaz was released from Guantánamo.

Airat Vakhitov and Rustam Akhmyarov, two Russian nationals captured in Afghanistan in December 2001 (in a Taliban prison, in Vakhitov's case) and released from Guantánamo in 2004, were arrested by Russian authorities in Moscow on August 27, 2005, for allegedly preparing a series of attacks in Russia. According to authorities, Vakhitov was using a local human rights group as cover for his activities. They were released on September 2, 2005, and no charges were pressed.

U.S. officials have claimed that some of the released prisoners returned to the battlefield. According to Dick Cheney, these captives tricked their interrogators about their real identity and made them think they were harmless villagers, and thus they were able to "return to the battlefield." One released detainee, Abdallah Salih al-Ajmi, a Kuwaiti, committed a successful suicide attack in Mosul, on March 25, 2008. Al-Ajmi had been repatriated from Guantánamo in 2005, and transferred to Kuwaiti custody. A Kuwaiti court later acquitted him of terrorism charges. On January 13, 2009, the Pentagon said that it had evidence that 18 former detainees have had direct involvement in terrorist activities. The Pentagon said that another 43 former detainees have "a plausible link with terrorist activities" according to its intelligence sources. National security expert and CNN analyst Peter Bergen, states that some of those "suspected" to have returned to terrorism are so categorized because they publicly made anti-American statements, "something that's not surprising if you've been locked up in a U.S. prison camp for several years." If all 18 people on the "confirmed" list have "returned" to the battlefield, that would amount to 4 percent of the detainees who have been released.

As of June 15, 2009, Guantánamo held more than 220 detainees.

The United States is negotiating with Palau to accept a group of innocent Chinese Uyghur Muslims held at the Guantánamo Bay.

The Department of Justice announced on June 12, 2009, that Saudi Arabia had accepted three. The same week, one detainee was released to Iraq, and one to Chad.

Also that week, four Uyghur detainees were released in Bermuda. On June 11, 2009, the U.S. Government negotiated a deal in secret with the Bermudian Premier, Doctor Ewart Brown to release 4 Uyghur detainees to Bermuda, an overseas territory of the UK. The detainees were flown into Bermuda under the cover of darkness. The U.S. purposely kept the information of this transfer secret from the UK, which handles all foreign affairs and security issues for Bermuda, as it was feared that the deal would collapse with their involvement. The story was leaked by the U.S. media, at which time Premier Brown was forced to hold a national address to inform the people of Bermuda. The move was met with immediate distaste from Bermudians as well as irate the UK Government, prompting an informal review by the UK Government and a tabled vote of no confidence by the Bermudian opposition part, the UBP, in Premier Brown. It is currently being decided if the decision to have the Uyghur detainees remain in Bermuda is to be overruled by the UK Government.

Italy agreed on June 15, 2009, to accept three prisoners. Ireland agreed on July 29, 2009, to accept two prisoners. The same day, the European Union said that its member states would accept some detainees. In January 2011 WikiLeaks revealed that Switzerland accepted several Guantanamo detainees as a quid pro quo with the US to limit a multi-billion tax probe against Swiss banking group UBS.

In December 2009 it was listed that since 2002 more than 550 detainees had departed Guantánamo Bay for other destinations, including Albania, Algeria, Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Belgium, Bermuda, Chad, Denmark, Egypt, France, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Maldives, Mauritania, Morocco, Pakistan, Palau, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom, Canada and Yemen.

The Guantanamo Review Task Force issued a Final Report January 22, 2010, but did not publicly release it until May 28, 2010. The report recommended releasing 126 current detainees to their homes or to a third country, 36 be prosecuted in either federal court or a military commission, and 48 be held indefinitely under the laws of war. In addition, 30 Yemenis were approved for release if security conditions in their home country improve.