BY: Hana Saada
ALGIERS- The US announced, Thursday, the transfer of long time Guantanamo Bay detainee, Said bin Brahim bin Umran Bakush, to his home country of Algeria.
Said bin Brahim bin Umran Bakush, a 72-year-old Algerian native who has been held in detention in Guantanamo Bay for 20 years, was sent to Algeria after a review board determined he no longer needed to be held.
Secretary of Defence, Lloyd Austin, informed Congress of his intent to transfer Bakush to Algeria in February, the Pentagon said in a statement.
“The United States appreciates the willingness of the Government of Algeria, and other partners to support ongoing US efforts toward a deliberate and thorough process focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and, ultimately, closing the Guantanamo Bay facility,” the Defence Department said in a statement .
Bakush is the sixth Guantanamo prisoner released in the past six months, according to the NYT, as the Biden administration seeks to reduce the number of the prisoners and eventually shut down the facility.
Of the 30 individuals who remain at Guantanamo, 16 are eligible for transfer, 3 are eligible to be reviewed by the PRB, 9 are in military court proceedings, and 2 others have been “convicted of offenses in military court,” as stated by the communiqué.
