Five Yemeni terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay have been released and transferred to Oman, the Department of Defense announced in a press release on Wednesday.
Al Khadr Abdallah Muhammad Al Yafi, Fadel Hussein Saleh Hentif, Abd Al-Rahman Abdullah Au Shabati and Mohammed Ahmed Salam are the detainees that have been sent to Oman, a neighbor to Yemen, the Associated Press reported. The fifth prisoner, Akhmed Abdul Qadir, was however transferred to Estonia, marking the first time that either country has accepted former Guantanamo prisoners for resettlement.
Following last week's terrorist attacks in Paris, Yemen has once again being thrust into the spotlight after Al Qaeda's Yemen branch claimed responsibility on Tuesday for training the gunmen to methodically execute 12 people in an attack on French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, CNN reported.
"The United States coordinated with the Government of Oman to ensure these transfers took place consistent with appropriate security and humane treatment measures," the Defense Department said, describing the transfers as being "unanimously approved" by all agencies responsible for reviewing them.
The move comes amid concerns from lawmakers that repatriating the detainees back to Yemen would prove to be too much of a risk, with the U.S. government already being involved in a battle with the Al-Qaeda insurgency.
Earlier this week, several Republican senators introduced legislation to clamp down on President Obama's ability to transfer terror suspects out of the detention facility, with some even calling for a "time out" in Yemen for two years.
The five Guantanamo prisoners, captured in Pakistan and detained by the U.S. as suspected Al Qaeda fighters, pose a threat of joining the terrorist organization after being transferred, BizPac Review reported.
"Now is not the time to be emptying Guantanamo," Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., said at a news conference hours before the latest transfers were announced, during which she warned of fresh terrorist threats.
With 122 prisoners left at Guantanamo Bay, including 79 Yemeni men, the U.S. has been attempting for some time to find countries that would take on the detainees while also offering security and human rights assurances, according to documents from the Pentagon and Joint Task Force Guantanamo.
In late December, five men who were held for a dozen years without charge at Guantanamo were sent to the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan for resettlement, according to Fox News. Last year, nearly 30 prisoners were also resettled in third-world countries as part of Obama's renewed push to close the detention center.
"We are committed to closing the detention facility. That's our goal and we are working toward that goal," said Ian Moss, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department on Guantanamo issues.
