Six Yemeni inmates sent from Guantanamo prison to Oman

Washington has transferred six inmates from its Guantanamo Bay prison to Oman, the Pentagon said Saturday, as part of a drive by President Barack Obama to close the controversial jail. It named the six men as Idris Ahmad Abd Al Qadir Idris, Sharaf Ahmad Muhammad Masud, Jalal Salam Awad Awad, Saad Nasser Moqbil Al Azani, Emad Abdallah Hassan and Muhammad Ali Salem Al Zarnuki. The Omani foreign ministry said all six were Yemeni.

The United States is grateful to the government of Oman for its humanitarian gesture and willingness to support ongoing US efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.

Statement issued by U.S. Pentagon

The men arrived in the sultanate on Saturday for a “temporary stay,” said a ministry statement carried by the official ONA news agency. It did not elaborate on their subsequent travel plans. Saturday’s announcement marked the second Guantanamo prisoner transfer this year, after the Pentagon announced in January that is had moved four men to Oman and one to Estonia. A total 28 inmates were transferred out of Guantanamo in 2014.

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