Eleven Yemeni detainees at Guantanamo Bay have been transferred to Oman, marking yet another detainee transfer from the military prison in the final days of the Biden administration.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin notified Congress in September 2023 of his intent to transfer the detainees to Oman, the Pentagon said in a news release Monday.
The detainees who were transferred include: Uthman Abd al-Rahim Muhammad Uthman, Moath Hamza Ahmed al-Alwi, Khalid Ahmed Qassim, Suhayl Abdul Anam al Sharabi, Hani Saleh Rashid Abdullah, Tawfiq Nasir Awad Al-Bihani, Omar Mohammed Ali al-Rammah, Sanad Ali Yislam Al Kazimi, Hassan Muhammad Ali Bib Attash, Sharqawi Abdu Ali Al Hajj, and Abd Al-Salam Al-Hilah.
President Joe Biden made it a goal early in his tenure to close Guantanamo Bay. With two weeks left in his term, 15 detainees remain at the detention facility with three eligible for transfer, according to the news release from the Department of Defense. The facility held about 40 detainees at the start of the Biden administration.
At least one of the Yemeni men transferred — Qassim — was never charged with a crime and has been in custody at Guantanamo Bay for more than 20 years, according to Reprieve, a human rights and legal non-profit organization. During his detention, he was “subjected to severe torture and mistreatment, initially at Bagram airbase, then Kandahar and Guantánamo, including beatings, sleep deprivation, extreme isolation, exposure to freezing temperatures, forced standing and stress positions,” Reprieve said in a release regarding his transfer.
“We are grateful to the Biden Administration for effecting this transfer and are overjoyed that Khalid is a free man, but must never forget the appalling injustice he has been subjected to,” a member of Qassim’s legal team, Tom Wilner, said in a statement.
In recent weeks, the US has also transferred four other Guantanamo Bay detainees to Kenya, Malaysia, and Tunisia.
And last month, a military appeals court put back on track plea deals for three alleged co-conspirators of the 9/11 attacks, including suspected mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, after Austin attempted to step in and reject the deals.