[NYTr] US names all 759 Guantanamo Bay prisoners
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The Independent - May 17, 2006
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article485476.ece
US names all 759 Guantanamo Bay prisoners
By Rupert Cornwell
The Pentagon released the names yesterday of all 759 people who have been
held at Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba since it opened in 2002 - including
201 people whose identity has never been revealed.
The detainees come from more than 40 countries, and range in age from their
teens to over 70. Of the total, 220 are from Afghanistan, 134 from Saudi
Arabia, 94 from Yemen and 57 from Pakistan. There are also 20 Algerians, 17
Chinese and seven Russians.
The list includes eight Britons: Feroz Ali Abassi, 26, Shafiq Rasul, 33,
Asif Iqbal, 25, Rhuhel Ahmed, 25, Jamal Malik al-Harith, 39, Moazzam Begg,
37, Richard Dean Belmar, 26, and Martin John Mubanga, 33. All have been
returned to Britain.
The latest list, obtained by the Associated Press under the Freedom of
Information Act, expands on a similar list made public last month. The new
names cover people, mostly Afghans, released by the Pentagon before the
start of hearings in summer 2004 to establish whether prisoners were in fact
"enemy combatants" who qualified to be held at Guantanamo Bay.
The US military says the camp contains some 480 detainees, after the release
or transfer of 275. But the data gives little clue of who is still in the
prison. Nor did the Pentagon agree to release photos of detainees, or
details of their height and weight - relevant information after recent
hunger strikes at the camp.
Guantanamo has come under growing criticism in recent months, but the Bush
administration continues to resist demands that it be closed. The Pentagon
claims it must continue to hold some prisoners who are of no intelligence
value, either because their countries of origin will not accept them, or
their safety cannot be assured.
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