US to release four Guantanamo Bay detainees to Saudi Arabia
The US aims to transfer an additional 19 Guantanamo Bay prisoners to four countries before Donald Trump is sworn in as president
Washington — The US will transfer four detainees to Saudi Arabia from the Guantanamo Bay military prison in the next 24 hours, US officials said on Wednesday, in President Barack Obama’s final push to shrink the inmate population there despite pressure from president-elect Donald Trump to halt such releases. It will be the first in Obama’s final flurry of transfers aimed at sending as many as 19 prisoners to at least four countries, including Italy, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, before Trump is sworn in on January 20. If the final transfers go according to plan, only about 40 prisoners will remain at Guantanamo, despite Obama’s pledge to close the controversial facility at the US naval base in Cuba. The Republican president-elect has vowed, however, to keep the Guantanamo military prison open and "load it up with some bad dudes." The Obama administration notified Congress last month of its intention to make the additional transfers, Reuters has reported. Those being transferred...
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