Gitmo Detainees: Thirty-Nine Still Held @ $13 Million Each Now for 20 Years

 

First group arrived there in 2002

Update (January 12, 2022) from AFP News here with this headline:

Government has approved the release of five more prisoners from Gitmo (according to DOD). Three of the five detainees were from Yemen, one was from Somalia, and the fifth from Kenya. 

They have spent a collective 85 years in the prison opened two decades ago for the “war on terror” detainees in the wake of the September 11, 2001attacks. None of these five were never charged, detainees now approved for release – decided after case reviews in November and December – total 18 of the 39 men still held in the facility.

Those approved for release are: Somali Guleed Hassan Ahmed, (also called Guled Hassan Duran); Kenyan Mohammed Abdul Malik Bajabu; and Omar Muhammad Ali al-Rammah, Moath Hamza al-Alwi, and Suhayl al-Sharabi of Yemen.

The Pentagon's Periodic Review Board found that all did not present, or no longer presented, a threat to the United States.

Original Post from Here: Gitmo Detainee update after 20 Years from the AP with this headline:

“Biden's low profile on Guantanamo rankles as prison turns 20”

WASHINGTON (AP) — Advocates for closing the Guantanamo Bay detention center were optimistic when President Joe Biden took office. And they were relieved this summer after the U.S. released a prisoner for the first time in years. Many are now increasingly impatient.

In the months since that release, there have been few signs of progress in closing the notorious offshore prison on the U.S. base in Cuba. That has led to increased skepticism about Biden’s approach as the administration completes its first year and the detention center reaches a milestone Tuesday — the 20th anniversary of the first prisoners' arrival.

Wells Dixon, an attorney with the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, which has long taken a leading role in challenging the indefinite confinement without charge at the base, says: “President Biden has stated his intention to close Guantanamo as a matter of policy but has not taken substantial steps toward closure.”

Daphne Eviatar, director of the security with the human rights program at Amnesty International USA said: “There’s a lot of impatience and a lot of frustration among advocates and people who have been watching this. We can’t forget what this country did 20 years ago and is continuing to do today. This administration has a lot on its plate, certainly, but this is such an egregious human rights offense.”

Without a more concerted effort, those who want the center to close fear a repeat of what happened under President Barack Obama. He made closing Guantanamo a signature issue from his first days in office.

But, Obama managed only to shrink it in the face of Congressional political opposition. Then Trump rescinded the Obama order to close Guantanamo, but largely ignored the place, and he also pledged during his first campaign to “load it up with some bad dudes” but he never sent anyone there and said the annual cost of operating the detention center was crazy at around $13 million per prisoner.

Guantanamo also became the focus of international outrage because of the mistreatment and torture of prisoners and the U.S. insistence that it could hold men indefinitely without charge for the duration of a war against al-Qaeda that seemingly has no end.

The critics grew and now also include Michael Lehnert, a retired Marine Corps major general who was tasked with opening the detention center but has come to believe that holding mostly low-level fighters without charge was counter to American values and interests, says: “To me, the existence of Guantanamo is anathema to everything that we represent, and it needs to be closed for that reason. Until I see some visible signs that the administration is going to do something about it, I am not heartened. If there is somebody in charge of closing Guantanamo, I have not talked to anybody that knows who they are.”

Now 39 prisoners are left there. That is the fewest since the detention center's earliest days, when the initial groups, suspected of having a connection to al-Qaeda or the Taliban, arrived on flights from Afghanistan hooded, shackled, and clad in orange jumpsuits.

At its peak, in 2003, the detention center held nearly 680 prisoners. President George W. Bush released more than 500 and Obama freed 197 before time ran out on his effort to whittle down the population. 

Of the remaining prisoners, 10 face trial by military commission in proceedings that have bogged down for years. 

They include Khalid Sheikh Mohammad the self-proclaimed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. Two others have been sentenced and one of them, former Maryland resident Majid Khan, is expected to complete his sentence next month.

The other 27 include 13 who have been cleared for release, including eight under Biden who could now be returned to their homeland or resettled elsewhere. Two dozen have not been cleared and have never been charged, and likely never will be, a status that some Republicans continue to defend, including in a Senate hearing last month.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) in that hearing stated: “We’re not fighting a crime. We’re fighting a war. I don’t want to torture anybody. I want to give them due process consistent with being at war, and, if necessary, I want to hold them as long as it takes to keep us safe or we believe that they’re no longer a threat.”

A senior Biden administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal policy, says “The NSC is actively working with Defense, State, and Justice Departments and other agencies to reduce the population within restrictions imposed by Congress,” then adding: “The restrictions include a ban on returning prisoners to certain countries, including Yemen and Somalia, or sending any to the U.S., even for further imprisonment. The administration is committed to closing the detention center, an effort it jump-started after four years of inaction under Trump.”

One sign of progress is the eight approved for release through a review process created under Obama. Under Trump, just one detainee was cleared and the only release was a Saudi sent back to his homeland as part of an earlier military commission plea deal.

Critics want the Biden administration to get busy repatriating or resettling the detainees who have been cleared and to restore a State Department unit devoted to the effort that was eliminated under Trump. Advocates argue the administration could resolve the fate of the rest by transferring the military commission cases to federal court and releasing the rest.

Ramzi Kassem, a law professor at the City University of New York who with his students has represented 14 Guantanamo prisoners since 2005 says: “Biden's low-key approach could be a smart strategy considering the political opposition encountered by Obama. He appears to have learned from Obama’s missteps, transferring one prisoner and clearing many without being too loud about it and painting a target on his own back, Still, the administration must up the pace because, at the rate of one prisoner a year, it won’t come close to shuttering the prison.”

My 2 Cents: I still advocate to try those awaiting trial, punish them more; release those without any formal charges; and then close the place down. It has cost over $540 million to date keeping it open and operating.

Just imagine U.S. POWs still being held in Hanoi for 20 years. Time for justice to prevail – this is taking far too long for the accused to face justice.

Thanks for stopping by.