The administration of US President Joe Biden announced, on Monday, the transfer of 11 Yemeni detainees, including two former bodyguards of Osama bin Laden, who are being held at a US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the Sultanate of Oman, which has agreed to help resettle them, amid steps to reduce… The number of detainees in the controversial military facility.
The New York Times reported that all of the men were arrested following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and were held for more than two decades without direction. Charges or trial against them.
The US Department of Defense said in a statement, “The United States appreciates the readiness of the government of the Sultanate of Oman and other partners to support ongoing US efforts that focus on responsibly reducing the number of detainees and closing “Guantanamo Bay prison in the end.”
Fox News digital channel asked several questions To the White House media officials, it was referred to the US Department of Defense.
The 11 detainees are: Othman Abdul Rahim Muhammad Othman, Moaz Hamza Ahmed Al-Alawi, Khaled Ahmed Qasim, Suhail Abdel-Anam Al-Sharabi, Hani Saleh Rashid Abdullah, Tawfiq Nasser Awad Al-Bahani, Omar Muhammad Ali Al-Rammah. Sanad Ali Yaslam Al-Kazemi, Hassan Muhammad Ali Bab Attash, Sharqawi Abdo Ali Al-Hajj, and Abdul Salam Al-Hilla.
The New York Post reported that Ahmed Al-Alawi, an Al-Qaeda fighter and part of Osama bin Laden’s security team in Afghanistan He was one of the 11 men who were released.
In 2016, a declassified document stated that Al-Alawi made several statements indicating that he "Maintains an extremist mentality"
Anam al-Sharabi, another alleged bodyguard of bin Laden, was also released. A declassified file in 2020 said he was bin Laden’s bodyguard and trained in Afghanistan before the September 11 attacks.
He may also be linked to a failed September 11-style kidnapping attempt in Southwest Asia that he led. The head of Al-Qaeda’s external operations, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
The New York Times reported that the transfer took place as part of a secret operation carried out early in the morning on Monday, days before Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was scheduled to confess, The most famous Guantanamo prisoner, In planning the September 11, 2001, attacks in which nearly 3,000 people were killed in exchange for a life sentence rather than facing a trial that carries the death penalty.
The deal that was granted to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his two partners, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa Al-Hawsawi, was severely criticized by Republicans and the families of September 11 in the United States. ;
The move has been in the works for nearly three years after the initial plan to make the move in October 2023 faced opposition from members Congress.
The authorities did not explain why the detainees were handed over to Oman, one of the most stable US allies in the Middle East, or what it provided to the host country.
< p>Among the men who were recently transferred was Shaqawi Al-Hajj, who went on repeated hunger strikes and was hospitalized at Guantanamo in protest after spending 21 years in prison.
With the release of these, the total number is There are now only 15 men detained at Guantanamo, the lowest number since 2002, the year the prison was transformed into a detention site to house men from around the world who were arrested as part of the “War on Terror.”
Under this transfer, six uncharged men remain detained at Guantanamo, two of whom have been convicted and sentenced, and seven others are accused of the 2001 attacks and the bombing of the destroyer Cole in 2000, and the Bali bombings in 2002.
Most of the detainees at Guantanamo are from Yemen, a war-torn country that is now under the control of the Abdul-Malik al-Houthi group.
