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US Transfers 4 Gitmo Detainees to Saudi Arabia

US Transfers 4 Gitmo Detainees to Saudi Arabia
folder_openSaudi Arabia access_time7 years ago
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Local Editor

The United States transferred four Yemeni detainees from Guantanamo Bay to Saudi Arabia as President Barack Obama pushed to shrink the inmate total there despite Donald Trump's call to stop.

US Transfers 4 Gitmo Detainees to Saudi Arabia

The four were seen after landing at a terminal normally reserved for royals at the Riyadh international airport.

The relatives of one inmate were waiting for his arrival.

They identified him as Mohammed Bawazir, a Yemeni, and said he had been held for 16 years at the US facility in Cuba.

Those transferred were among 59 prisoners remaining at the detention center in Cuba.

On Tuesday, Trump tweeted: "There should be no further releases from Gitmo. These are extremely dangerous people and should not be allowed back onto the battlefield."

Hours later, outgoing president Barack Obama's spokesman, Josh Earnest, said he would expect "additional transfers" before Obama hands power to Trump on 20 January.

This was the first in Obama's final flurry of transfers aimed at sending as many as 19 prisoners to at least four countries, including Italy, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, before 20 January.

If the final transfers go according to plan, only about 40 prisoners will remain at Guantanamo, despite Obama's pledge to close the controversial facility at the US naval base in Cuba.

Trump has vowed, however, to keep the Guantanamo military prison open and "load it up with some bad dudes".

The Obama administration notified Congress last month of its intention to make the additional transfers, Reuters reported.

The White House has dismissed Trump's objections and said transfers from Guantanamo, opened by former President George W Bush to hold terrorism suspects rounded up overseas following the 11 September 2001 attacks, would continue until Trump takes office.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

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