The Guantanamo Docket, revealing that the majority of former prisoners have been sent to Afghanistan (199), Saudi Arabia (123) and Pakistan (63) was last updated after the recent batch of detainees were freed from the facility and moved to Uruguay for resettlement as refugees on December 7.
The six freed detainees transferred to Uruguay are four Syrian citizens (Ahmed Adnan Ahjam, Ali Husein Shaaban, Abd al Hadi Omar Mahmoud Faraj and Jihad Ahmed Mujstafa Diyab), one citizen of Tunisia (Abdul Bin Mohammed Bin Abess Ourgy) and one Palestinian national (Mohammed Abdullah Tahamuttan). They were supposed to be released in 2009, but remained in Guantanamo as US authorities struggled to find a destination for them until Uruguayan President Jose Mujica agreed to accept the former prisoners.
The recent release puts the number of inmates currently at the Guantanamo Bay facility at 136, according to the Department of Defense. Almost half of them have been cleared for transfer yet remain at the facility as their native countries cannot currently accept them, as they are either unstable or unsafe.
The detention camp, located in Cuba, has been the subject of harsh criticism since its establishment in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States. Health workers, inspectors and former detainees have described cruel and inhumane conditions at the camp, including the use of torture.
Earlier in December, the US House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorization Act, prohibiting any transfers of Guantanamo detainees from the facility into the United States but instead easing a ban on transfers to other countries.
