Amnesty International welcomed the handover but said Guantánamo would remain a “clear and long-standing stain” on U.S. human rights.

US has transferred 11 detainees from Yemen The infamous Guantanamo Bay They were held without charge for more than two decades as part of Washington’s so-called “war on terror” before being sent to an Oman detention center.

“The United States appreciates the willingness of the government of Oman and other partners to support continued U.S. efforts focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately closing the Guantanamo Bay facility,” the U.S. Department of Defense said in a statement late Monday.

The US-based Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) said that among the 11 detainees transferred to Oman this week was Sharqawi al-Hajj, who had gone on multiple hunger strikes and was hospitalized at Guantánamo , in protest of his 21-year imprisonment. Detained and tortured by the CIA for two years.

“Our thoughts are with Mr. Al Hajj, who is on his way to the free world after nearly 23 years in captivity. His release is full of hope for him and for us,” said Pardiss Kebriaei, CCR’s lawyer representing the Hajj.

There are currently only 15 detainees left at Guantánamo, where then-President George W. Bush established the prison camp after the Al Qaeda attacks on September 11, 2001, to hold suspects indefinitely and indefinitely. The highest number of people detained on any charges at that time was nearly 800. Legal challenges to their detention are not allowed.

Hundreds of Muslim men have been captured from dozens of countries as part of America’s so-called “war on terror,” which has also involved the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as covert military operations elsewhere around the world.

Conditions and the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay have long drawn outcry from human rights groups and United Nations experts, who have condemned the prison as a place of “unparalleled infamy”.

Amnesty International welcomed the release of the 11 people, saying “the military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay is a clear and long-standing stain on the human rights record of the United States.”

Over the past month, U.S. authorities have released several prisoners from Guantanamo, including Tunisian nationals Rida bin Saleh Yazdi He has been held in prison since it opened in 2002 and has never been charged. Also released are Muhammad Abdul Malik Bajab Arrested in Kenya in 2007, and two malaysian men He was held without charge for 18 years.

Successive U.S. administrations have been asked to close Guantanamo or at least release all detainees who have never been charged with a crime. Outgoing President Joe Biden promised before the 2020 election to try to close Guantánamo, but the prison remained operational weeks before he left office.

Biden administration officials have said they are looking for suitable countries willing to take detainees from Guantanamo who have never been charged with a crime.

The CCR said six of the 15 men remaining in Guantanamo have not been charged and three have been allowed to be transferred from the United States.

The Defense Department said the other nine detainees include two people who have been convicted and sentenced, as well as seven people charged in connection with the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, as well as the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on a U.S. Navy ship in 2002. Those charged in connection with the bombing. Resort Bali.