Tags : gitmo, ireland
Ireland Agrees To Take 2 Guantanamo Detainees
Washington, D.C. (AHN) – Ireland has agreed to resettle two detainees in the prison camp in the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay. The Obama administration has set a January deadline to shut down the camp, which is widely seen as a symbol of the Bush administration’s controversial terror policies such as waterboarding.
In a statement, Irish Justice Minister Dermot Ahern said, “I was the first EU Minister to call for the closure of the detention facility. The Government has consistently called for its closure since then. In making this decision I am conscious of the intention of the United States to close the centre at Guantanamo Bay, in part by transferring detainees, no longer regarded as posing a threat to security but who cannot return to their own countries, to other countries willing to accept them.”
Ahern made the decision following a report by Irish officials who visited Washington and Guantanamo last week. He met with newly-minted U.S. ambassador Dan Rooney the same day as his announcement.
The Irish Justice Ministry said it would not accept the two detainees as refugees under the Geneva Convention, but would not release any personal information about them in compliance with “norms of official procedure in respecting the rights of privacy.”
The prison camp in the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba was opened in 2002 and currently has about 240 detainees.
Obama had issued three executive orders two days after his inauguration: one closing Guantanamo by Jan. 22, 2010, another banning waterboarding and requiring all prisoner interrogations to follow the Army Field Manual, and the third ordering a review of options for handling detainees.
Obama has been under pressure to provide a “comprehensive plan” about how he will shut down the facility without risking the nation’s safety.
Democrats in Congress had led Republicans in May in passing a bill funding the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq without the $80 million Obama had asked for to cover costs of shutting down the facility. The measure also had an Oct. 1 deadline for the President to provide Congress with a comprehensive plan.
Last week, liberals joined Republicans in criticizing the administration for failing to submit a report on detainee policy.
In his executive orders, Obama had created a task force responsible for reviewing U.S. policy on how to handle current prisoners in Guantanamo Bay as well as future detainees when the facility shuts down. The task force, co-chaired by Attorney General Eric Holder and Defense Sec. Robert Gates, was required to submit a report 180 days after the executive orders were issued.
Obama has so far convinced several nations to take detainees from the prison. Italy has agreed to take three, Bermuda has resettled four Uighurs, Iraq has taken one and Saudi Arabia three. Palau, a Pacific island nation south of Tokyo, has also said it would accept the temporary resettlement of 17 other Uighurs.
The European Union in June adopted a framework “that permits individual EU member states to accept detainees.”
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