Five Yemenis Held at Gitmo Sent to Mideast Country

The Pentagon has transferred five Yemeni detainees who had been held for more than a decade at Guantanamo Bay.

The Yemeni men were arrested fleeing the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan following the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. They had been held as enemy combatants.

Ali Ahmad Muhammad al-Razihi, Khalid Abd-al-Jabbar Muhammad Uthman al-Qadasi, Adil Said al-Hajj Ubayd al-Busays, Sulayman Awad Bin Uqayl al-Nahdi, and Fahmi Salem Said al-Asani were released Saturday and sent to the United Arab Emirates, Pentagon officials said Sunday.

Most of the men are described as low-level fighters, but al-Razihi was suspected of being a possible bodyguard to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

The United Arab Emirates is a major regional military ally for the United States and has taken part in launching airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

The five inmates were accepted for resettlement in the Persian Gulf nation after U.S. authorities determined they no longer posed a threat, the Defense Department said in a statement.

Their release brings the Guantanamo prison pouplation to 107. Earlier this year, the United States transferred four Yemeni detainees at Guantanamo Bay to Oman and a fifth to Estonia.

Last year, three Yemeni prisoners were moved to Kazakhstan.

President Barack Obama has reduced the number of prisoners at Guantanamo by more than half since he took office. He has made closing the prison a priority.