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Portugal agrees to take up to 3 Guantanamo detainees

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Portugal will accept two or three Guantanamo detainees already cleared for release, Portuguese Foreign Minister Luis Amado said in an interview Saturday. Amado indicated that the Portuguese Ministry of Internal Affairs would have to determine the legal framework for receiving the detainees. The agreement resulted from a meeting on Friday between Amado and US Ambassador Daniel Fried, the special envoy designated in March by the Obama administration to seek foreign government assistance in closing down the Guantanamo prison. In December Luis sent a letter to EU foreign ministers urging EU members to take in any detainees released from the facility. Last week the Council of the European Union and the US jointly released a statement outlining the terms of agreement for EU countries planning to accept Guantanamo Bay detainees, but the agreement leaves the final decision to accept detainees to each individual country. Also last week, the Italian government agreed to take in three specific Guantanamo detainees, while the Spanish government agreed to consider taking in four detainees as long as they pass security clearance and they are willing to be transferred.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on June 21, 2009 (boomark / email).