The United States Department of Defense acknowledges holding Tunisian detainees in Guantanamo.[1] A total of 779 detainees have been held in extrajudicial detention in the Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba since the camps opened on January 11, 2002 The camp population peaked in 2004 at approximately 660. Only nineteen new detainees, all "high value detainees" have been transferred there since the United States Supreme Court's ruling in Rasul v. Bush.[2] As of December 2023[update], 30 detainees remain at Guantanamo Bay.[3] By July 2012 the camp held 168 captives.
On February 24, 2010, Carol Rosenberg, of the Miami Herald, reported that Albania accepted the transfer of three former detainees, a Tunisian, Saleh Bin Hadi Asasi and Sharif Fati Ali al Mishad and Rauf Omar Mohammad Abu al Qusin, an Egyptian, and a Libyan.[2][4][5] The men will not be allowed to leave Albania.
On July 27, 2012, Tunisia Live asserted the five remaining Tunisian captives would be repatriated by the end of 2012.[6]
Previously, the risk of torture under the Ben Ali regime meant the five Tunisian detainees could not safely return home. Now, with Tunisia's democratic transition in full effect, there is nothing to prevent these Tunisian citizens returning to their country.[7]
isn | name | arrival date |
departure date |
notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
38 | Ridah Bin Saleh Al Yazidi | 2002-01-12 | ||
46 | Salah Bin Al Hadi Asasi | 2002-01-20 | 2010-02-24 | Transferred to Albania[8] |
148 | Adil Ben HMIDA Mabrouk | 2002-02-09 | 2009-11-30 | Transferred to Italy for criminal prosecution |
168 | Adel bin Ibrahim Hkiml | [9] | 2014-12-30 | Transferred to Kazakhstan |
174 | Hisham Sliti | 2002-05-01 | 2014-11-20 | Transferred to Slovakia |
502 | Abdul Bin Mohammed Bin Abess Ourgy | 2002-05-01 | 2014-12-08 | granted asylum in Uruguay |
510 | Riyad Bil Mohammed Tahir Nasseri | 2002-06-08 | 2009-11-30 | Transferred to Italy for criminal prosecution |
660 | Lufti Bin Swei Lagha | 2002-06-14 | 2007-06-17 | |
717 | Abdul Haddi Bin Hadiddi | 2002-08-05 | 2010-03-23 | Transferred to Georgia |
721 | Abdullah Bin Omar | 2002-08-05 | 2007-06-17 | |
892 | Rafiq Bin Bashir Bin Jalud Al Hami | 2003-02-07 | 2010-01-24 | Transferred to Slovakia |
894 | Lufti Bin Ali | 2003-02-07 | 2014-12-30 | Transferred to Kazakhstan |
A Tunisian, Egyptian and Libyan were sent to Albania, while a Palestinian was sent to Spain. The Palestinian is the first of five inmates that Spain has agreed to take. Albania has taken eight detainees.
Tunisian Secretary of State for American and Asian Affairs, Hedi Ben Abbes, stated in an interview with Tunisia Live that the five Tunisians still remaining in the U.S Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay will be back to Tunisia by the end of this year.
Since the Revolution, Tunisia has been proactive in implementing policies that respect the human rights of its citizens. However, the Tunisian government still has not succeeded in resolving the issues surrounding the five remaining prisoners at Guantánamo.