The US Department of Defense announced on Saturday it had transferred six detainees out of Guantanamo, leaving about 245 at the offshore prison as US president-elect Barack Obama prepares to take office.
Four detainees were sent to Iraq, one to Algeria and one to Afghanistan after a series of reviews, the Department of Defense said in a statement. Obama has vowed to close the detention center in southeast Cuba and stop the military commissions.
Still, military judges rejected last-minute requests to postpone pretrial hearings scheduled to begin today for five men accused of orchestrating the Sept. 11 attacks and a Canadian accused of killing a US soldier with a grenade in Afghanistan.
Defense lawyers have sought to halt the cases — or at least delay them pending a review by the Obama administration.
And the chief prosecutor, Army Colonel Lawrence Morris, said the prosecution was seeking a delay for “efficiency” and legal reasons.
“We’re still in business. We’re going to court Monday,” Morris said on Saturday.
Morris said he has to be prepared to go forward because he does not know when Obama will halt the trials and order the closure of the prison.
The Pentagon said the transfer of the six prisoners “is a demonstration of the United States’ desire not to hold detainees any longer than necessary.”
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The governor of Ohio is to send law enforcement and millions of dollars in healthcare resources to the city of Springfield as it faces a surge in temporary Haitian migrants. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Tuesday said that he does not oppose the Temporary Protected Status program under which about 15,000 Haitians have arrived in the city of about 59,000 people since 2020, but said the federal government must do more to help affected communities. On Monday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost directed his office to research legal avenues — including filing a lawsuit — to stop the federal government from sending
A Zurich city councilor has apologized and reportedly sought police protection against threats after she fired a sport pistol at an auction poster of a 14th-century Madonna and child painting, and posted images of their bullet-ridden faces on social media. Green-Liberal party official Sanija Ameti, 32, put the images on Instagram over the weekend before quickly pulling them down. She later wrote on social media that she had been practicing shots from about 10m and only found the poster as “big enough” for a suitable target. “I apologize to the people who were hurt by my post. I deleted it immediately when I
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