US Won’t Release Gitmo Detainees to Yemen

Officials Hoping to Find Other Countries to Send Them to

Administration officials say that the current political uncertainty in Yemen has forced them to reintroduce a ban on releasing detainees from Guantanamo Bay back to the nation, even those who have long since been cleared for release.

Releasing detainees is a complicated process, with the US insisting on government monitoring of the people “to ensure they don’t engage in future terrorist activities,” even in the case of people wrongly imprisoned in the first place.

Officials aren’t confident Yemen’s government, such as it is, can do that, so they’re looking for other nations willing to take, and surveil, the Yemeni detainees cleared for release.

Of the 54 detainees remained who have been cleared for release, 47 of them are Yemenis. They also make up some two-thirds of the 122 detainees being held overall.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.