Ten Yemeni former inmates at the US detention centre in Guantanamo Bay arrived in Oman on Thursday for a "temporary stay" as Washington moves to close the notorious prison, Muscat's foreign ministry said.
Mohammed Abd Al Rahman Al Shamrani was among the first prisoners taken to the US base in Cuba.
Oman has received the men "in response to a request by the US administration for help to resolve the issue of detainees at Guantanamo Bay," the ministry said in a statement carried by state news agency ONA.
More than 40 of the remaining inmates have been approved for transfer, and the Pentagon is trying to find countries to take them. Many are from Yemen and cannot go back given the country's collapse into civil war.
| I think it's the perfect place for them... |
Four of the detainees were captured by Pakistani forces after fleeing from Afghanistan in late 2001. Inmates were called "enemy combatants" and denied standard US legal rights,
| Since they were 'enemy combatants', they weren't entitled to standard US legal rights, but the progs work their lies in wherever they can... |
meaning many were held for years without charge or trial.
Some figures have estimated that up to 30 per cent of released detainees return to militant groups with the aim of carrying out attacks on Western targets.
| Not that that fact bothers Champ... |
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