The outgoing Biden Administration released the original Guantanamo Bay Detainee in Cuba, returning him to his home country of Tunisia with the approval of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
Earlier this week, outgoing President Joe Biden announced the release of Ridah Bin Saleh al-Yazidi from Guantanamo Bay prison, who was held without charge for over 20 years as prison facilities saw a surge in transfers. He arrived in Cuba on the prison’s opening day on January 11, 2002. He was quietly airlifted from Guantanamo Bay and returned to Tunisia.
“On Jan. 31, 2024, Secretary of Defense Austin notified Congress of his intent to support this repatriation and, in consultation with our partner in Tunisia, we completed the requirements for responsible transfer,” a statement from the Pentagon statement read.
According to the New York Times, Al-Yazidi was not charged with a crime and was cleared years ago to return to Tunisia after being deemed “transfer-eligible by an interagency review process” through a 2009 executive order. However, the Tunisian and U.S. governments failed to make a transfer deal, resulting in the 59-year-old staying in prison.
This was the fourth similar action the Biden Administration took in just two weeks, before President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration.
He was detained near the Afghanistan border in 2001 with several other men who had been fleeing from the battle of Tora Bora, which occurred at the end of the U.S. military invasion of Afghanistan. Per the Guardian, the prison’s population decreased since Biden took office.
His release comes amid a flurry of transfers this month, including three other people sent to Kenya and Malaysia. The prison’s population has dropped marginally during Joe Biden’s presidency, falling from 40 people when he took office to the current 26. More than half are now eligible for transfer. A leaked military assessment from 2007 indicated that Pakistani authorities captured Yazidi in December 2001 near the Afghanistan border. US officials claimed he was part of a group fleeing the battle of Tora Bora and alleged ties to al-Qaida, though human rights organizations have long challenged the credibility of such claims. A complex series of diplomatic hurdles kept Yazidi detained long after he was cleared for transfer in 2007 under both the Bush and Obama administrations. The former state department official Ian Moss attributed the delay to diplomatic challenges with Tunisia and Yazidi’s reported unwillingness to consider alternative countries for resettlement, according to the New York Times.
“Today, 26 detainees remain at Guantanamo Bay,” the Pentagon said in a statement, adding that “14 are eligible for transfer; 3 are eligible for a Periodic Review Board; 7 are involved in the military commissions process; and two detainees have been convicted and sentenced by military commissions.”
Biden and former President Barack Obama have both expressed desires to permanently shut down the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. However, neither has achieved that goal. The Biden Administration made some progress by approving the release of certain detainees, but efforts to close the prison entirely have been halted. This is mainly because of the complexities of handling the remaining detainees, many of whom face terrorism-related charges.
