The Obama administration late Wednesday released five Yemeni al Qaeda fighters from the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, sending four of them to Oman, which shares a border with Yemen.
GOP lawmakers who proposed Tuesday to bar further such releases criticized the move, noting that one of the terrorists who carried out last week’s deadly attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris trained with al Qaeda in Yemen in 2011. The local al Qaeda group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Sectarian violence and political instability in Yemen also had led the Obama administration to impose a moratorium on the release of detainees to that country, which was only recently lifted.
The four sent to Oman — Al Khadr Abdallah Muhammad Al Yafi, Fadel Hussein Saleh Hentif, Abd Al-Rahman Abdullah Abu Shabati and Mohammed Ahmed Salam — were considered either medium-risk or high-risk detainees.
A fifth, Ahmed Abdul Qadir, judged to be a medium risk, was sent to Estonia.
All five were recommended for release in 2010 after the Obama administration reviewed cases of detainees recommended for continued detention under the administration of George W. Bush.
Their transfer leaves 122 detainees at the prison.
Legislation introduced Tuesday by Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., would bar the release or transfer of any detainees judged to be medium- or high-risk — the vast majority of those who remain — and requires greater justification for any other release or transfer. It also would bar transfers of any Guantanamo prisoner to Yemen, home country of the largest single group of remaining detainees.
Administration officials say each detainee’s case has been reviewed carefully by the departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Justice and State, along with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, with unanimous agreement required for a transfer or release.
But supporters of the legislation say President Obama has ignored concerns about the risks posed by freed detainees in his rush to empty the prison.
“The lack of details provided to the public by the administration about these terrorists demonstrates the need for the transparency with the American people our legislation would require,” Ayotte said Thursday in a joint statement with Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and John McCain.
“If the detainees the administration has been transferring are truly not a threat to the American people, the administration should provide the unclassified details my legislation requires for the 32 detainees whom the administration has transferred since May.”
Graham, McCain, R-Ariz., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Intelligence Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., are co-sponsors of the legislation.
McCain has promised his committee would consider the bill and said he has discussed possible companion legislation with House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry.
“Senator Ayotte’s recent proposal is worthy of careful consideration,” Thornberry, R-Texas, said. “The status quo of cutting terrorists loose with little assurance that they will not take up arms or plot and plan against us is more than foolish — it’s dangerous. The president’s actions increase the risk to both our military and Americans everywhere.”
