US President Barack Obama has admitted for the first time that the January 2010 deadline he set for closing the “war on terror” prison at Guantanamo Bay will be missed.
US Attorney General Eric Holder (pictured) announced Friday that the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and four other Guantanamo Bay detainees, will be sent to New York to face trial in a federal court.
The US Congress has passed legislation allowing the Obama administration to bring Guantanamo Bay detainees to the US to face prosecution, boosting ongoing efforts to close the notorious facility.
The US Supreme Court agreed on Tuesday to hear a request from 13 ethnic Uighur inmates held at Guantanamo Bay to be freed in the United States, despite measures forbidding the release of former Guantanamo detainees on US soil.
The US House of Representatives voted late Thursday to block the transfer of Guantanamo Bay detainees to the US to face prosecution, dealing a possible setback to President Barack Obama's plan to close Guantanamo by Jan. 2010.
The United States announced that it has transferred two detainees from Guantanamo Bay to Ireland, and one to Yemen. These are the latest releases as Obama administration pursues its plans to close the camp.
The White House has alerted Congress that it plans to transfer eight Uighurs from Guantanamo prison to the island nation of Palau. The Chinese Muslims are cleared of any wrongdoing but have been in legal limbo since 2005.
Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai has announced that Hungary will take in one former inmate from the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He added that there are no pending charges against the detainee in either the US or Hungary.
Two Syrian nationals that were being held at the US detention centre in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, were transferred to Portugal by US authorities on Friday and were released, the Portuguese interior ministry said on its website.
