The Biden administration has released 11 Yemeni terrorists captured after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks from Guantanamo Bay.
The men had been “approved for removal by national security authorities” more than two years ago, and their transfer to Oman was approved on Monday. According to Go to NPR News.
Oman has reportedly “agreed to provide resettlement assistance and security oversight” for 11 prisoners described as “former al-Qaeda members,” according to U.S. Department of Defense records.
The newspaper said the prisoner transfer was “originally scheduled for October 2023” but was suspended “due to concerns” about “destabilizing the Middle East” after Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. It was pointed out that .
The program's reinstatement in the final two weeks of President Biden's term marks the administration's last-ditch effort to reduce Guantanamo's prisoner population and move closer to Biden's goal of closing the facility. In recent weeks, the United States has transferred four other Guantanamo prisoners – a Kenyan, a Tunisian and two Malaysians – and is preparing to transfer at least one more Iraqi.
The newspaper said Oman plans to help the 11 Yemeni prisoners find “housing, jobs and other support systems” to “rebuild their lives.”
This is not the first time the Biden administration has released Guantanamo Bay prisoners with ties to terrorist organizations.
As Breitbart News' Frances Martel previously reported, in June 2022, Asadullah Haroon Gul, an Afghan with ties to al-Qaeda, was released from Guantanamo Bay.
The now-defunct Afghan army arrested Haroon in 2017 on the grounds that he was a “commander of Hizb-i-Islam Gulbuddin, a paramilitary group that was then allied with al-Qaeda.” washington post It was reported last year. The D.C. newspaper called Haroon a “low-value” detainee, given that the group he was allegedly a member of is now an active participant in the U.S.-backed Afghan government. Al Qaeda has close ties to the Taliban, and this was the pretext the US government used to invade Afghanistan and overthrow the first government in 2001.
The Pentagon under the Biden administration also released Mohammad Mani Ahmad al-Qaftani to Saudi Arabia in March 2022. Al-Qaftani's release came after he spent “nearly 20 years in prison for his involvement in the September 11 terrorist attacks.”
Biden has previously said he wants to close Guantanamo Bay by the end of his presidential term. According to On CNN.
