On Monday, the Biden administration shared some news about transferring 11 Yemeni detainees from the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba to Oman, which has agreed to help them settle there.
Among those being transferred are two individuals who were previously accused of serving as bodyguards for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.
This move is part of a broader effort to decrease the number of detainees at this controversial military facility. All these men were captured after the September 11 attacks back in 2001 and have spent over twenty years without facing any charges or trials, according to a report by The New York Times.
The Defense Department expressed gratitude towards Oman and other partners for their support in responsibly managing the detainee population and working towards eventually closing Guantanamo Bay.
A group of 11 detainees has been named, including Uthman Abd al-Rahim Muhammad Uthman, Moath Hamza Ahmed al-Alwi, Khalid Ahmed Qassim, Suhayl Abdul Anam al Sharabi, Hani Saleh Rashid Abdullah, Tawfiq Nasir Awad Al-Bihani, Omar Mohammed Ali al-Rammah, Sanad Ali Yislam Al Kazimi, Hassan Muhammad Ali Bib Attash, Sharqawi Abdu Ali Al Hajj, and Abd Al-Salam Al-Hilah. Among them was Ahmed al-Alwi—reportedly an al Qaeda fighter who served in Osama bin Laden’s security team in Afghanistan.
According to the New York Post, he was one of those released recently. A declassified document from 2016 indicated that al-Alwi had made comments showing he still holds extremist views.
Another individual set free was Anam al Sharabi; he too is said to have been a bodyguard for bin Laden. A file from 2020 revealed that he trained in Afghanistan before the September 11 attacks and might even have links to a foiled hijacking plot connected to Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.
This transfer took place during a covert operation early Monday morning—just days before Mohammed was supposed to plead guilty for his role in planning the September 11 attacks that resulted in nearly 3,000 deaths.
He was looking at a life sentence instead of facing the death penalty. This deal has drawn significant backlash from Republicans and families affected by the attacks.
It’s worth noting that this transfer had been in discussion for about three years after an earlier attempt planned for October 2023 encountered pushback from lawmakers.
Officials haven’t explained why the detainees were sent to Oman, a reliable ally of the U.S. in the Middle East, or what Oman received in return. Among those transferred this time was Shaqawi al Hajj, who had been on multiple hunger strikes and had to be hospitalized while at Guantanamo as a way to protest his 21-year imprisonment.
With this latest move, only 15 men remain at Guantanamo—this is the lowest number since 2002 when it first opened as a detention center for individuals arrested during the War on Terror.
Currently, there are still six men who have never been charged, two who have been convicted and sentenced, and seven others facing charges related to the 2001 attacks, the USS Cole bombing in 2000, and bombings in Bali in 2002.
The majority of detainees at Guantanamo are from Yemen, which has been torn apart by war and is now largely controlled by Iran-backed Houthi rebels.