Who is held at gitmo

Others say the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban, some of whose new leaders are former Guantanamo prisoners, creates a new obstacle. There was broad public consensus in the US at the end of the presidency of George W Bush in that Guantanamo should be closed.

President Barack Obama declared he would close the prison, but drew sharp criticism from Republicans and failed to fulfil his promises after the US Congress moved beginning in to impose limits on the transfer of detainees. In his four years in office, Trump released only one person. A relatively small number of 39 men are still being held at Guantanamo. They include Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the al-Qaeda attacks on the US on September 11, and four co-conspirators who face trial by military commissions.

Ten of the detainees do not face charges and have been approved by US agencies for release but are still being held. Among them is Saifullah Paracha , a Pakistani man who at age 74 is the oldest detainee at Guantanamo and who has never been charged with a crime.

Ten men face still face military commission proceedings. One is nearing the end of a military sentence and is due to be released in February. Others are being held indefinitely without trial. The Bush administration transferred about detainees out of Guantanamo by the end of , and the Obama administration transferred nearly out of the facility by the beginning of Among the challenges US authorities face in transferring detainees out of Guantanamo is obtaining agreements guaranteeing humane treatment from their home countries, or getting a third country to agree to resettle them and prevent their return to hostilities against the US.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Slovakia and Albania have been among the largest recipients of nationals from other countries. In , five Taliban prisoners were transferred to Qatar in exchange for the release of American soldier Bowe Bergdahl, who was held captive for five years in Afghanistan and Pakistan after deserting the US Army.

Four of those five are now members of the new Taliban government in Afghanistan. Two men have been released since Obama left office in January Both were returned to their home countries. After more than 15 years at Guantanamo, Ahmed al-Darbi was returned to Saudi Arabia in to continue serving a prison sentence for a bomb attack on an oil tanker off the coast of Yemen.

On July 19, the Biden administration released its first detainee, Abdul Latif Nasser , a Moroccan, four years after he had been cleared for transfer in Held for 19 years, Nasser was never charged with any crime. The military commissions are tribunals organised outside the framework of US and international law by the US Department of Defense to bring charges against detainees at Guantanamo.

US constitutional protections of due process do not apply, allowing the government to maintain secret evidence derived from torture and to hold detainees indefinitely. Detainees are required to use the lawyers assigned to them. They are not allowed to see all the evidence against them. Only two-thirds of a jury is required to convict, and even in cases of acquittal, release is not guaranteed. Many of the detainees at Guantanamo were first held in black sites by the CIA or elsewhere by the US military and were tortured before being transferred to Guantanamo.

Since , Guantanamo detainees have been sent home or to other countries through prisoner transfer agreements. There are 39 still held. Nine died in custody. Of the 39 detainees remaining, 17 are being held indefinitely with no recommendation for transfer, 10 are eligible for transfer if security conditions are met, 10 have been charged by the US military, and two have been convicted.

Several international human rights groups, including HRW, Amnesty International and the International Committee of the Red Cross have repeatedly condemned the alleged human rights violations, including harsh interrogation methods that critics say amounted to torture.

During his presidency, George W Bush said he would like to see Guantanamo Bay closed but that it would not be easy.

That never happened. In July , Moroccan prisoner Abdul Latif Nasser became the first detainee transferred under the Biden administration. He had been held by the US since without being charged. The Pakistani prisoner has been held there since on suspected ties to al-Qaeda, although he has never been charged. New book by Washington Post reporters claims Trump asked if detainment camp could be used to house infected.

Moroccan prisoner Abdul Latif Nasser had been held by the US since without being charged with a crime. By Mohammed Haddad. Published On 7 Sep Where is Guantanamo Bay? Detainees by nationality Since January 11, , at least detainees from 48 countries have been held in Guantanamo Bay.

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