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: JURIST - The Paper Chase

Obama administration to transfer 6 Guantanamo detainees overseas: report

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

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[JURIST] The Obama administration has notified Congress of plans to transfer six Guantanamo Bay detainees out of the country, according to a Tuesday Miami Herald report. The notifications were reportedly filed August 7, in accordance with a new law that requires risk assessments and notification of transfers. One of the six detainees is Mohammed Jawad, who will be repatriated to Afghanistan. The other five have not been identified, but two are expected to be sent to Ireland, two to Portugual, and the sixth to an undecided nation. Also this week, the Belgian Foreign Ministry announced it was sending a delegation to Guantanamo to interview a detainee who could be released to that country. There is also another foreign delegation traveling to Guantanamo this week. These latest developments come as the Obama administration works toward closing the detention facility. The administration is exploring options for detainees who cannot be sent overseas, and, last week, federal and state officials toured a prison in rural Michigan in anticipation that it could eventually hold Guantanamo detainees. Also last week, federal officials said that terrorism trials for some inmates could be held at a new high-security courthouse in Newport News, VA if the Obama administration sends cases to federal courts. The Obama administration faces sharp opposition from members of Congress over plans to transfer Guantanamo detainees to US soil. In late July, US Defense Department General Counsel Jeh Charles Johnson and Assistant Attorney General for National Security David Kris, both members of task force appointed by Obama to oversee the closing of Guantanamo, testified in front of the House Armed Services Committee that the Obama administration is considering transferring more Guantanamo Bay detainees to the US as they urged Congress to pass proposed reforms to the Military Commissions Act of 2006 and detainee policy.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on August 19, 2009 (boomark / email).