U.S. Moves Closer to Closing Guantanamo Bay [View all]

[ucrdem]

Source: Wall Street Journal

Updated Dec. 31, 2013 11:24 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON—The Pentagon said it has transferred the last three ethnic Uighur Chinese nationals from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Slovakia in what it called "a significant milestone in our effort to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay."

Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said in a written statement that Yusef Abbas, Saidullah Khalik and Hajiakbar Abdul Ghuper are "voluntarily resettling in Slovakia," leaving 155 detainees at Guantanamo.

The three men were the last of 22 ethnic Uighurs captured in Afghanistan in 2001 and ordered released from Guantanamo under an Oct. 7, 2008, federal court ruling. The 22 men have ended up being resettled to six different countries, the Pentagon said.

Andrea Prasow, senior counterterrorism counsel for advocacy group Human Rights Watch, said the transfer was an important moment. "The Uighurs had nothing to do with any conflict with the United States," she said. "It is a stark symbol of what was wrong with Guantanamo, with what was wrong with just sweeping people up and detaining them in an offshore facility."

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304361604579292270871879140

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