Guantanamo prison won't be closed by January as planned

Sep 27, 2009, 3:05 GMT

   Washington - The US prison for suspected terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will not be closed by January as planned, US government officials said Saturday.

   According to a report by US broadcaster CNN, two members of the US administration stated that the planned date to close the facility would not be met due to unresolved legal questions.

   The closure of the facility is still planned to proceed as soon as possible, the officials said.

   The Department of Justice late Saturday announced that three detainees had been transferred from Guantanamo to authorities in Ireland and Yemen.

   Alla Ali Bin Ali Ahmed was transferred to Yemen, his home country. A federal court had ruled in May that Ahmed could no longer be held.

   Two other prisoners were transferred to Ireland. At the Irish government's request, they were not identified 'for security and privacy reasons,' the Justice Department said.

   More than 550 detainees have been transferred out of Guantanamo since 2002.

   Four months before the envisioned Guantanamo closure deadline, the White House replaced Gregory Craig, one of the driving forces for the closure, as lead advisor on the proceedings, according to a Friday report by the Washington Post.

   Craig had admitted that he had miscalculated several points concerning shutting down of the facility.

   One of the first acts by US President Barack Obama upon taking office in January was ordering the closure within 12 months of the Guantanamo facility, which was built by his predecessor, George W Bush.