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US suspending Guantanamo detainee transfers to Yemen

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

[JURIST] A White House spokesperson said Tuesday that the US government will suspend transfers of Guantanamo Bay detainees to Yemen. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs made the announcement at his daily briefing amid increasing political pressure not to transfer any more detainees to Yemen after it was revealed that the man who attempted to detonate an explosive device on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 last month received al Qaeda training in Yemen. Gibbs said: One of the very first things that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula used as a recruiting tool was the existence of Guantanamo Bay. We are not going to make decisions about transfers that, to a country like Yemen that would, that they're not capable of handling. And I think that, while we remain committed to closing the facility, the determination has been made that right now any additional transfers to Yemen is not a good idea.Most of the nearly 200 detainees remaining at Guantanamo are Yemeni, and many detainees have been transferred back to Yemen. Earlier Tuesday, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the detention of Yemeni Guantanamo detainee Ghaleb Nassar Al-Bihani, ruling that he can remain in US custody, but, last month, the US government transferred six detainees back to Yemen. Also last month, a federal judge granted Yemeni detainee Saeed Hatim's petition for habeas corpus, ordering his release.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on January 05, 2010 (boomark / email).