Three Guantanamo Bay detainees are transferred out of the Pentagon.
After sending 3 detainees to Malaysia and Kenya, the DOD reports that 27 detainees still remain at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
The Pentagon announced that three detainees held at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba have been returned to their home countries of Malaysia and Kenya.
The guilty pleas of Mohammed Farik bin Amin and Mohammed Nazir bin Lep have led to their transfer to Malaysia, as stated by the Department of Defense (DOD).
According to a pretrial agreement between the U.S. and two men, each has cooperated with the U.S. Government and provided deposition testimony that can be used against the alleged mastermind, Encep Nurjaman, of the Al Qaeda-affiliated attacks on nightclubs in Bali, Indonesia in 2002, and the attack on the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2003, the DOD stated.
The Convening Authority approved sentences of confinement for approximately five years for each man on June 13, 2024, in accordance with pretrial agreements. The department recommended that both men be repatriated or transferred to a third-party sovereign nation to serve the remainder of the approved sentence.
Both men were involved in working with Nurjaman, an Indonesian leader of al Qaeda-affiliate Jemaah Islamiya, for years. This includes assisting Nurjaman in evading capture following the Oct. 12, 2002 bombings that resulted in the deaths of 202 people at two nightspots in Bali, according to U.S. officials.
Nurjaman is still being held at Guantánamo Bay, awaiting the resumption of pre-trial hearings in January regarding the Bali bombings and other attacks.
On Tuesday, a Kenyan man, Mohammed Abdul Malik Bajabu, was returned to the US after 17 years at Guantánamo Bay without any charges.
In 2007, Kenyan authorities arrested him and accused him of being a member of an al Qaeda branch in East Africa, as reported by the Washington Post.
The Pentagon stated that Bajabu's detention was no longer necessary to safeguard the national security of the United States.
The Pentagon stated on Wednesday that the United States values the assistance in reducing the detainee population and eventually closing the Guantanamo Bay facility through a systematic and careful process.
The Pentagon stated that there are currently 27 detainees at Guantanamo Bay, with 15 eligible for transfer, 3 eligible for a Periodic Review Board, 7 involved in the military commissions process, and 2 detainees having been convicted and sentenced by military commissions.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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