Nine Guantanamo Detainees Shifted To Saudi Arabia
KABUL: (MEP) The United States transferred nine detainees held for years in the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay to Saudi Arabia, the Pentagon said.
The transfer marked the largest group of prisoners shipped out of the naval base in Cuba since President Barack Obama rolled out his plan to shut the controversial detention centre there before he leaves office.
“The United States is grateful to the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its humanitarian gesture and willingness to support ongoing US efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility,” the Pentagon said in a statement on Saturday.
The release came just ahead of Obama’s planned visit to Saudi Arabia next week and as the result of years of negotiations with the kingdom.
According to the Pentagon, all of the former captives will be subjected to a Saudi “rehabilitation and de-radicalization program,” the statement added.
The Department of Defense identified the men as Ahmed Umar Abdullah Al-Hikimi, Abdul Rahman Mohammed Saleh Nasir, Ali Yahya Mahdi Al-Raimi, Tariq Ali Abdullah Ahmed Ba Odah, Muhammed Abdullah Muhammed Al-Hamiri, Ahmed Yaslam Said Kuman, Abd al Rahman Al-Qyati, Mansour Muhammed Ali Al-Qatta and Mashur Abdullah Muqbil Ahmed Al-Sabri.
