Controversial prison camp: USA transfers long-term Guantanamo prisoner to Tunisia

After almost 23 years in prison, one of the first inmates of the controversial US prison camp Guantanamo in Cuba has been transferred to his home country of Tunisia. As early as January 2024, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin informed Congress of his intention to support the repatriation after a strict review, the Pentagon announced on Monday (local time). It did not provide any information about the circumstances of the transfer.

According to US media, Ridah Bin Salih al-Jasidi, 59, had been held there since the detention center opened in January 2002 and was never charged with a crime. He was caught by Pakistani security forces on the border with Afghanistan in December 2001. His transfer to Tunisia took around ten years. This month, three more Guantánamo prisoners have already been brought to their home countries.

Biden failed to shut down the US Congress

The prison camp is located in Cuba at the US naval base at Guantánamo Bay. At one point, almost 800 people were imprisoned there. The camp was set up after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in the USA under President George W. Bush to hold suspected Islamist terrorists without trial. Human rights groups have long called for the closure.

The outgoing US President Joe Biden set the closure as a goal at the beginning of his term in office. However, the plan failed because of the US Congress. Bush’s Democratic successor Barack Obama already wanted the camp to end. The Republican Donald Trump, in turn, advocated keeping the camp open.

26 prisoners still in Guantánamo

According to the Pentagon, there are currently 26 prisoners there, 14 of whom are eligible for transfer. The New York Times writes that only one of the original 20 prisoners is still incarcerated there. It is a Yemeni who is serving a life sentence as an accomplice of the former al-Qaeda boss Osama bin Laden.