Guantanamo prison remains open despite Obama's deadline (Roundup)

Jan 22, 2010, 17:40 GMT

Washington - US President Barack Obama's self-imposed deadline to close the Guantanamo Bay prison for terrorist suspects arrived Friday with 196 detainees still at the US naval base on the south-eastern coast of Cuba.

In Washington, the Justice Department announced late Thursday that two Algerians, Hasan Zemiri and Adil Hadi al-Jazairi bin Hamlili, were transferred from Guantanamo to the custody of the Algerian government. Ten Guantanamo prisoners have now been sent to Algeria.

Guantanamo became a lightning rod for criticism of the United States and its war against terrorism under former president George W Bush, and Obama's announcement just two days into his term that he would close the facility was broadly welcomed by foreign governments.

But the process has been slower than expected. Obama has released more than 40 detainees to other countries in the past year, and no new deadline for closure has been set.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told reporters in Spain that the administration still intended to shutter the detention facility, even if it took more time than originally hoped.

Yet even if Guantanamo is closed, about one-quarter of its current inmates are likely to be held indefinitely without trial, the Washington Post reported Friday, citing a yet-to-be-released Justice Department taskforce review.

Obama has endured fierce criticism from civil rights groups for maintaining a category of prisoners that will remain in custody, while others could still be charged before controversial military commissions instead of federal courts.

The Pentagon has identified more than 100 other detainees as eligible for release, but other countries including close US allies have resisted accepting prisoners from Guantanamo.

The Obama government's plans to move some detainees to a prison on US soil, possibly for eventual trial in civilian criminal courts, have encountered stiff opposition in Congress.

About half of the remaining prisoners are Yemeni. The US suspended transfers of Guantanamo inmates to Yemen after the December 25 attempted bombing of a US-bound airliner, in a plot that has been directly linked to Yemen-based terrorist group al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

Obama signed an executive order on January 22, 2009, two days after his inauguration, for the closure of Guantanamo.

More than 570 detainees have been transferred out of Guantanamo to at least 37 countries since the detention centre was opened in 2002 under then-president Bush.