(Bloomberg) — The U.S. will decide by Nov. 16 whether to try Guantanamo detainees in military or civilian courts, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said.
While President Barack Obama’s administration remains committed to closing the prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, doing so by Obama’s Jan. 22 deadline will be “difficult,” Holder told reporters today in Doha, Qatar.
“We will by Nov the 16th make the determination as to who can be tried in the reformed military commissions, who can be tried in our article 3 federal courts,” Holder said.
Guantanamo’s role in the U.S. fight against terrorism became the target of international condemnation during the administration of former President George W. Bush.
“We believe that Guantanamo has strained our alliances overseas,” said Holder. Obama’s pledge to shut down the prison is a signal of “the determination of this administration to change course.”
The Obama administration has been reviewing the cases of the 223 remaining Guantanamo detainees to determine which ones should be transferred to other countries, put on trial or held indefinitely.
“No determination has been made as to where people will be housed pending trial,” said Holder. “We have a number of facilities that are under consideration.”
The U.S. is trying to persuade other countries to accept detainees cleared for release. In the case of Yemen, the fate of about 100 Yemeni inmates is turning into an obstacle to Guantanamo’s closure.
The U.S. wants many of them to go to a rehabilitation program in Saudi Arabia, according to two Obama administration officials familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity in September. The Saudis refuse to accept them, the officials said, and Yemen’s president wants the detainees returned to their homeland. The U.S. is reluctant to return them to the responsibility of Yemen’s weak central government because of security concerns.
To contact the reporters on this story: Robert Tuttle in Doha at rtuttle@bloomberg.net; Henry Meyer in Dubai at hmeyer4@bloomberg.net.
