US releases names of ‘indefinite detainees’ held at Guantanamo
In this photo, reviewed by a US Department of Defense official, a Guantanamo detainee’s feet are shackled to the floor as he attends a ‘Life Skills’ class inside the Camp 6 high-security detention facility at Guantanamo Bay US Naval Base, Cuba, on April 27, 2009.
In limbo.
That is the status of 48 detainees held at the United States prison at Guantanamo Bay.
The US government released new details about 48 "indefinite detainees," as of 2010, who are being held on national security grounds despite a lack of evidence to try them, according to The Miami Herald.
The names were released in response a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the Herald, which published the list on Tuesday (see it here). The New York Times submitted a similar request, and published the once-secret document, now unclassified, they received in response.
Most of the listed suspects are from Yemen and Afghanistan. Two of the 48 have died while at Guantanamo — one by suicide, the other after a heart attack, said the Herald.
The revelation comes as the United States struggles to contain a growing hunger strike at the controversial high-security prison in Cuba, which President Barack Obama promised to close years ago.
More from GlobalPost: US force-feeding quarter of Guantanamo prisoners as hunger strike grows
A government task force set up by Obama three years ago determined that none of the 48 suspects can be freed, transferred or prosecuted because they are considered too dangerous, citing official justification of continued detention "pursuant to the Authorization for Use of Military Force (2001), as informed by principles of the laws of war.”
Obama announced in a major policy speech last month that he would allow some detainees held at Guantanamo to be returned to their home countries.
Thus far, 86 out of 166 prisoners have been cleared for transfer, according to BBC News.
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