The Pentagon said Monday it had repatriated to Tunisia one of the remaining detainees at the Guantánamo Bay military prison.
Ridah Bin Saleh al-Yazidi was sent there the day it opened, Jan. 11, 2002, under President George W. Bush, according to the New York Times.
He was found eligible for transfer “by a rigorous interagency review process”, a Defense Department statement said.
“In consultation with our partner in Tunisia, we completed the requirements for responsible transfer.”
He was the fourth prisoner repatriated from Guantánamo this month.
There are now 26 prisoners in the facility, the statement said. At its peak, about 800 were incarcerated at the site in the eastern tip of Cuba.
The detention facility, run by the U.S. Navy, was created after Bush declared a “war on terror” following the 9/11 attacks.
The conditions at Guantánamo have prompted consistent outcry from rights groups that accuse the U.S. of committing torture and other human rights abuses inside its razor-wire perimeter. U.N. experts have condemned it as a site of “unparalleled notoriety.”
President Biden pledged before his election to try to shut Guantánamo, but it remains open. It had 40 prisoners when Mr. Biden took office, the Times says.
The Defense Department said 14 of the 26 who remain imprisoned are eligible for transfer, three are eligible for evaluation by the review board, and seven are being tried through the military commissions process. Only the final two prisoners have been convicted and sentenced by military commissions, according to the Pentagon.
