US Releases Guantanamo Prisoner Held Since Day Jail Opened

A prisoner who had been held at the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay since the day it opened has been sent home.

A prisoner who had been held at the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay since the day it opened has been sent home.

The Department of Defense announced the repatriation of Ridah Bin Saleh al-Yazidi to the Government of Tunisia on Monday.

He had been held since the prison's opening in January 2002 under the administration of President George W. Bush.

Yazidi was never charged. He was determined transfer-eligible by a "rigorous interagency review process" established by 2009.

On Jan. 31, 2024, Secretary of Defense Austin notified Congress of his intent to support his repatriation in January.

Yazidi's release came days after two Malaysian detainees were transferred to their home country after pleading guilty to charges in connection with a 2002 bombing in Mali, the Associated Press reported.

A Kenyan man who had been held at the facility for 17 years without being charged was also freed.

The prison camp was opened in Guantanamo in the early days of the so-called War on Terror to hold was the Pentagon described as "unlawful combatants.

26 detainees remain at Guantanamo Bay.

14 of them are deemed eligible for transfer. Three are eligible for a Periodic Review Board, seven are involved in the military commissions process and two detainees have been convicted and sentenced by military commissions.

The U.S. says it is searching for countries willing to take the prisoners who qualify for release.

President Biden vowed in 2021 to close the prison before the end of his term. It was an unfulfilled campaign promise from Barack Obama.

In 2016, then-candidate Donald Trump expressed willingness to keep the Guantanamo prison open and "fill it with bad guys."