Washington, January 15 (RHC)-- Ten Yemeni inmates held at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo have been sent to Oman. The transfer of the Yemeni inmates, all held for more than a decade without charge or trial, marked the largest group of prisoners shipped out of the notorious detention center.
This puts the total population of the detainees at the U.S. prison below 100 for the first time since it opened in 2002. The inmate figure now stands at 93. As many as 775 suspects are said to have been brought to the facility since its establishment.
The latest transfer is part of a wave of releases that the Barack Obama administration announced would take place early this year as it prepares to give Congress a plan for closing the facility.
U.S. officials say that Washington seeks to transfer many of the prisoners abroad or find a secure location in the U.S. to hold them. The U.S. Congress has explicitly banned the transfer of Guantanamo detainees from Cuba to U.S. soil.
Guantanamo was established by former president George W. Bush's administration in 2002 as a prison for alleged foreign terrorism suspects following the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.
Obama had promised to close the Guantanamo Bay prison during his 2008 election campaign, citing its damage to America's reputation abroad. However, he has so far failed to deliver on that pledge due to stiff opposition from Congress.
