Yemen demands the release of Yemeni detainees in Guantanamo

A father sheds a tear while brandishing a picture of his son who is one of the Yemeni prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay.

Yemen demanded the release of Yemeni prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay and denied reports written in American newspapers saying that Yemen has refused to take back its citizens detained there. “Yemen was the first country calling on the United Sates to hand over its detained citizens,” said Abu Baker al-Qirbi, Minister of Foreign Affairs, at the International Movement Conference organized by the National Organization for Defending Rights and Freedoms (HOOD) and the British organization Reprieve.

 “When the Yemeni government found out about the Yemeni detainees in Guantanamo, it tried through the Yemeni embassy in the U.S., in cooperation with the American government, to identify those detainees [and determine] whether they are Yemenis or not,” said al-Qirbi. He added that the Yemeni government continues to keep updated about the status of cases and the treatment of detainees in Guantanamo.  

Al-Qirbi added that the Yemeni government asked concerned bodies in the U.S. to return the detainees to the Yemeni government to undergo trial in Yemen. He confirmed that the Yemeni government is committed to prosecuting suspects engaged in terrorist attacks.          

Al-Qirbi indicated that Yemen refused to receive its detained citizens in only one case because of conflicts with the Yemeni constitution or law. He also welcomed any popular or international effort to defend detainees. 

“The Yemeni government considers the issue of the Yemeni detainees in Guantanamo as a national issue. Particular attention should be drawn to it,” said Huda al-Ban, the Minister of Human Rights. She called on the U.S. Department of State to provide complete information on Yemeni detainees in Guantanamo along with the status of their treatment. She also asked detainees to be given legal guarantees if they are granted release. 

Al-Ban also called for releasing everyone proved innocent in the September 11 terrorist attacks which the Yemeni government has previously denounced. 

American lawyers defending Yemeni prisoners in Guantanamo said that their clients are subject to all sorts of torture. “I am ashamed of what my country does against those people, and I apologize to you and to the detainees’ families here in Yemen,” said Clive Stafford Smith, director of the Reprieve Organization. He said that there are around 5,000 American lawyers defending detainees of Guantanamo.  

Smith pointed out during this conference that they will discuss what should be done in order to help release the detainees in the next year. “Our aim is to work together in order to take them out of Guantanamo and to achieve justice.”   

A few of the Yemeni detainees have been released. Four of the 17 Yemeni detainees in Guantanamo have been released, according to David Remes, an American lawyer. He confirmed that he had received a note that one of his Yemeni clients was handed over to Yemen on Tuesday. 

With the arrival of four former detainees in Yemen, the number of Yemenis released from Guantanamo has climbed to 12 out of the total 107 Yemenis detained. The eight previously released have already returned home after serving various periods of sentence in Yemeni jails.

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