Cuba, September 27: The US Department of Justice says that two prisoners of Guantanamo Bay detention center have been sent to Ireland and another one to Yemen.
Washington “has coordinated with the governments of each of these nations to ensure the transfers take place under appropriate security measures and will continue to consult with these governments regarding these detainees,” the department said in a statement on Saturday.
US authorities did not release the names of detainees who were sent to Ireland, but media reports in July suggested the two are Uzbek nationals.
The third prisoner, Alla Ali Bin Ali Ahmed from Yemen was transferred to his home country following a federal court decision in May authorizing his release.
In a statement, the Yemeni embassy in Washington welcomed “with enthusiasm, the release and transfer of its citizen.”
The administration of President Barack Obama is struggling to find a way to move detainees in order to meet a self-imposed January 2010 deadline for closing the notorious prison.
Obama faces domestic opposition to his plan to shut down the prison, and particularly to the prospect of moving some of the detainees to US soil for trial or continued detention.
—–Agencies