The United States has sent five detainees from the prison at Guantanamo Bay to Kazakhstan, marking a renewed push by President Barack Obama to close the controversial jail. Two Tunisian and three Yemeni inmates who had spent more than 11 years behind bars without ever being charged in a court arrived in Kazakhstan at 0415 GMT on Wednesday aboard a US military aircraft, the Pentagon said.
The prison was set up to hold alleged terror suspects after the September 11, 2001 attacks, but human rights groups have condemned the jail as a "legal black hole," where inmates languish for years without being tried in court. The pace of transfers from the US-run detention center at Guantanamo has picked up in recent months as Obama attempts to fulfil his vow to shut the prison, despite opposition from some lawmakers.
US officials said more releases would be announced soon. "We are determined to responsibly reduce the detainee population and you can expect additional transfers over the coming weeks," an administration official told AFP. The Pentagon said in a statement that the five men "were unanimously approved for transfer" after a thorough review by a task force of several US government agencies.
Details of what Kazakhstan had agreed to and what security steps the government might undertake related to the former detainees remained unclear. It was the first time the Central Asian country had taken in former Guantanamo detainees. The transfer of the five men leaves 127 inmates at the remote prison, which is located at a US naval base in south-east Cuba.
The move came just days after Obama's envoy overseeing the release of Guantanamo inmates, Cliff Sloan, resigned from his post. Sloan had reportedly become frustrated at how long it took the Pentagon to approve transfers of detainees. The detention "facility" is approaching its 13th anniversary, as the first detainees arrived on January 11, 2002. Of the 127 inmates still held there, 59 are cleared to be transferred to their home countries or third countries. With the release of the two Tunisian detainees, there is only one Tunisian national still held at the prison. At one point, there were 12 Tunisian inmates at the jail.
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