Media Contact: Amanda Simon, (212) 633-4162, [email protected]
(WASHINGTON, DC) In response to reports that five detainees were released from the detention center at Guantanamo Bay and resettled in Kazakhstan, Naureen Shah, director of Amnesty International USA’s Security and Human Rights Program, issued the following statement:
“Nearly six years since President Obama first ordered it closed, Guantanamo’s prison is approaching its grim 13th anniversary. This latest transfer shows that the president has the momentum to finally shut down Guantanamo.
“This week’s transfer and resettlement of three Yemenis, in particular, is important progress that the president must build on. Although many of these men were approved for transfer by an interagency government panel in 2010, the administration cited the security situation in Yemen as a reason to keep them in indefinite detention. For years, dozens of Yemeni detainees at Guantanamo have been in limbo with their lives on hold languishing in detention based solely on their country of origin.
“President Obama must act quickly to continue these transfers, and Congress should not seek to restrict or slow these efforts.”
Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning global movement of more than 7 million people in over 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.