5 Guantanamo prisoners released, sent to Estonia and Oman
Five men from Yemen were freed from the US Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after more than a dozen years of captivity and sent to Estonia and Oman for resettlement, US officials said Wednesday, the latest in a wave of releases that have alarmed congressional opponents of closing the detention center.
Four of the men went to Oman and one to Estonia, according to a Pentagon statement. It was the first time either nation accepted Guantanamo prisoners for resettlement. The men had been cleared for release since at least 2009 but the US has balked at repatriating Guantanamo prisoners back to Yemen, where the government is battling an al-Qaida insurgency.
All five were captured in Pakistan and detained by the US as suspected al-Qaida fighters. US officials later determined it was no longer necessary to detain them but have struggled to find other countries willing to take them in. The men are all in their 30s and 40s, including one who was 17 when he was sent to Guantanamo.
