As a part of the slow but ongoing effort to shutter the prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, two detainees have been transferred from the detention center into the hands of the Algerian government. Eighty-six of the remaining 164 prisoners at the camp -- held without charge for nearly a decade -- have been cleared for transfer but remain detained at the military base.
Nabil Said Hadjarab and Mutia Sadiq Ahmad Sayyab were approved for transfer following a “comprehensive review” by the Guantánamo Review Task Force, according to a statement.
Lawyers from the Center for Constitutional Rights, who represent a number of Gitmo detainees, welcomed the resumption of voluntary transfers, but urged humane treatment of the detainees by the Algerian government and stated too that no detainees should be repatriated against their will:
Such steps must continue until this shameful chapter in our nation’s history has ended once and for all. Meanwhile, Algeria must treat the two men who have been transferred there humanely, and the United States should not forcibly repatriate anyone who fears persecution, including CCR’s client Djamel Ameziane.
Meanwhile, more than 60 detainees continue to refuse food at the camp in a hunger strike that has lasted over six month and resulted in the torturous force feeding of dozens of inmates.
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