The US Department of Defense announced on Monday that a detainee has been repatriated from the military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba to Tunisia. This marks the fourth detainee to be transferred this month. The individual, Ridah Bin Saleh al-Yazidi, aged 59, was deemed eligible for transfer following a thorough interagency review process. He had been held at the facility for over 22 years without being charged with a crime.
Yazidi, a Tunisian national, was first detained at Guantanamo on its opening day in January 2002. While a 2007 US military assessment accused him of being a member of the militant group al Qaeda, human rights groups have criticized the reliability of such assessments. Despite being cleared for transfer since 2007 by both the George W. Bush and Obama administrations, a release deal was never finalized, leading to his prolonged detention.
President Joe Biden has expressed a commitment to closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, commonly known as GTMO. However, progress in transferring detainees has been slow, with 26 individuals still held at the facility as of Monday. The Pentagon stated that 14 of these detainees are eligible for transfer.
Earlier this month, the US also repatriated Mohammed Abdul Malik Bajabu to Kenya, who had been detained since 2007 without facing charges. Additionally, two detainees, Mohammed Farik bin Amin and Mohammed Nazir bin Lep, were sent back to Malaysia after pleading guilty to war crimes related to attacks carried out by an al Qaeda affiliate.
Efforts to close Guantanamo Bay have been ongoing for years, with President Barack Obama and President-elect Donald Trump both making promises regarding the facility. Obama established the office of military commissions and the Periodic Review Board system but was unable to shut down the prison during his tenure. In contrast, Trump signed an executive order in 2018 to keep the facility open and even suggested the possibility of detaining more individuals there.
