Biden releases prisoners from Guantanamo: A step towards closure?

Biden releases prisoners from Guantanamo: A step towards closure?

In a last major step before the end of his presidency, Joe Biden significantly reduced the number of prisoners in the controversial Guantanamo Bay prison camp on Monday. The U.S. military announced that 11 Yemeni detainees have been transferred to Oman, leaving only 15 inmates at the facility. The move comes amid intensive efforts by the Biden administration to close the controversial facility and finally release a significant number of detainees who are often held without charge, according to a statement from the US military. It is emphasized that the United States appreciates the support of the Omani government in ongoing efforts to responsibly reduce the prison population with an eye toward eventual closure of the detention center, reported oe24.at.

Abolishing the camp, which has existed in Cuba since 2002 and was originally created to detain terror suspects as part of the "war on terror," was a key goal of Biden's presidency. In recent years, efforts to close the facility have repeatedly failed because of Congress. Congress had banned the government from transferring detainees to the mainland United States and also blocked repatriations to certain countries, including unstable Yemen. These challenges were also met by nzz.ch thematised.

Current situation in Guantanamo