There are 15 remaining prisoners at Guantanamo Bay after the Defense Department transferred 11 Yemeni detainees to the government of Oman earlier this week.
The 11 detainees are: 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. None of them had been charged with crimes during their two decades of detention.
President Joe Biden sought to close the facility during his administration, though he will not accomplish that goal, but his administration has transferred 15 prisoners to other countries since mid-December 2024. There were 40 prisoners in the Cuba-based facility when Biden’s administration began.
Monday’s announcement was the latest repatriation of detainees as the administration seeks to reduce the prison’s population before the second Trump administration begins in less than two weeks.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin notified Congress on Sept. 15, 2023, of his intent to repatriate these 11 Yemeni detainees to the government of Oman. These Yemeni men could not be transferred to their home country due to instability there.
“The Biden administration has yet again lied to Congress and released 11 terrorists from Guantanamo Bay in the dark of night,” Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch (R-ID) said. “This is unspeakably dangerous as terror threats are on the rise. This shameful action by Biden brings more danger to the American people.”
There are three other prisoners at Guantanamo Bay who are eligible for transfer, while three others are eligible for a Periodic Review Board assessment. Six of the 15 prisoners there have never been charged with a crime. Two have been convicted and sentenced by military commissions.
Seven of the remaining detainees have been charged in relation to the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole naval ship, the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and the 2002 bombings in Bali.
Later this week, the most infamous Guantanamo Bay detainee, Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, is set to plead guilty to masterminding the 9/11 attacks despite Austin’s efforts to revoke the agreed-upon plea deal that would take the death penalty off the table in exchange for life in prison and a guilty plea. Two other alleged participants are expected to plead the same way for the same deal.
A military appeals court reaffirmed last week that Austin did not have the authority to withdraw the plea agreements worked out with Mohammad, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak bin ‘Attash, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi.
Former President George W. Bush opened the detention center at Guantánamo Bay in 2002, and, at its peak, the facility housed nearly 800 detainees. The facility was used to house suspected terrorists during the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan following al Qaida’s 9/11 terrorist attacks.
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Both President Barack Obama and Biden sought to close the facility but were unsuccessful in part due to a 2015 law forbidding the military from bringing these detainees into the United States.