US hands over 5 Guantanamo detainees to Morocco

The United States has transferred five Moroccan detainees held at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to their home country, the Pentagon announced in a statement on Tuesday.

The decision to put the five Guantanamo detainees under control of the Moroccan government was based on many factors, including whether the detainee was of further intelligence value to the United States and whether he was believed to pose a continued threat to the United States if released, the statement said.

The transfer was not part of the recently announced Combatant Status Review Tribunal, but was coordinated prior to that announcement, it said.

The circumstances in which detainees were captured could be ambiguous, and many of them were highly skilled in concealing the truth, the statement said.

The process of evaluation and detention was not free of risk, as at least five detainees had gone back to the fight, it said.

The United States has faced international criticism for holding hundreds of suspects at Guantanamo without charges or trial for over two years.

To date, 156 detainees, mostly captured during the US-led war in Afghanistan, have left Guantanamo, including 129 transferred for release and 27 to their respective governments for continued detention. About 585 detainees from some 42 countries are still held there.

Source: Xinhua