End 22 Years Of Injustice

Prisoners: Who's Still Held?

15 of the 16 men still held at Guantánamo who have been approved for release. Top row, from L to R: Moath Al-Alwi, Khalid Qasim, Ridah Al-Yazidi, Muieen Abd Al-Sattar, Toffiq Al-Bihani. Middle row: Said Salih Said Nashir, Uthman Abdul Rahim Mohammed Uthman, Sharqawi Al-Hajj, Abdulsalam Al-Hela, Sanad Al-Kazimi. Bottom row: Suhayl Al-Sharabi, Gouled Hassan Dourad, Omar Al-Rammah, Mohammed Abdul Malik, Hassan Bin Attash.

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By Andy Worthington; last updated in February 2024.

779 prisoners have been held by the U.S. military at Guantánamo since the prison opened on January 11, 2002. Of those, 739 have been released or transferred, including one who was transferred to the U.S. to be tried and subsequently convicted, and nine have died, the most recent being Adnan Latif, in September 2012.

30 men are still held, and three of these men were recommended for release by high-level governmental review processes under President Obama back in January 2010. A fourth man was approved for release towards the end of the Trump presidency, and 12 more men have been approved for release since President Biden took office in January 2021, out of 19 approved for release in total under Biden — three in May 2021, two more in June 2021, three more in October 2021, five more in November and December 2021, two more in February 2022 (see here, and here), two more in April 2022, another in July 2022, and another in September.

Seven of the men approved for release since Biden took office have been freed. The first, Mohammed al-Qahtani, was released in March 2022, sent back to Saudi Arabia where he can receive the urgent psychiatric support unavailable to him in Guantánamo, another, an Afghan, was freed in June, a third man, Saifullah Paracha, a Pakistani and Guantánamo's oldest prisoner, was finally freed in October, two other Pakistanis, Ahmed and Abdul Rahim Rabbani, were finally freed in February 2023, Ghassan Al-Sharbi, a Saudi, was repatriated in March 2023, and Said Bakush, an Algerian, was repatriated in April. As a result, 16 men (53 percent of the men still held) are currently approved for release but still held.

Eleven others are facing or have faced trials in the broken military commission system, while the three others have been accurately described as "forever prisoners," held explicitly without charge or trial, and with their cases only reviewed via an administrative, rather than a legal process, the Periodic Review Boards, which were established under President Obama.

Trump released only one man in his four lamentable years in office, Ahmed al-Darbi, who was returned to Saudi Arabia for ongoing imprisonment in May 2018, six weeks later than he was supposed to have been repatriated under the terms of a plea deal he agreed to four years earlier.

In July 2021, President Biden also released a prisoner, sending Abdul Latif Nasser (approved for release in 2016) back to his home in Morocco, and, as noted above, in March 2022 he released a second prisoner, Mohammed al-Qahtani. At the start of April, Sufyian Barhoumi, another man approved for release in 2016, was repatriated to Algeria, in June Asadullah Haroon Gul, an Afghan, was also freed, and in October Saifullah Paracha was flown home to Pakistan. In February 2023, a sixth prisoner was released under President Biden, when Majid Khan, whose terrorism-related sentence ended on March 1, 2022, was resettled in Belize,and, as noted above, the Rabbani brothers were also freed in February, Ghassan Al-Sharbi in March, and Said Bakush in April. We hope to hear of more releases very soon.

To join the campaign for the prison's closure in 2024, print off a poster showing how long Guantánamo has been open, and urging Joe Biden to close it, via the Gitmo Clock, take a photo with it, and send it to us. The prison had been open for 6,950 days when Biden was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2021, and marked its 8,036th day of operations on Jan. 11, 2024, the 22nd anniversary of its opening.

Please also note that the numbers before the men’s names are their ISN numbers (the "Internment Security Numbers" by which they are identified in Guantánamo).

  1. 027 Uthman Abdul Rahim Mohammed Uthman (Yemen) Recommended for continued detention and possible transfer to detention in the U.S., but determined to be eligible for a Periodic Review Board in April 2013, his review took place in April 2016 and he was recommended for ongoing imprisonment in May 2016; another review took place in December 2016, but in January 2017, just days before President Obama left office, his ongoing imprisonment was again upheld, although he was finally approved for release by a PRB under President Biden in May 2021.
  2. 028 Moath Al Alwi (Yemen) Recommended for continued detention, but determined to be eligible for a Periodic Review Board in April 2013, his review took place in September 2015, and he was recommended for ongoing imprisonment in October 2015. Another review took place in March 2018, but, shamefully, did not deliver its ruling until October 2020, when the board recommended him for ongoing imprisonment. He was finally approved for release by a PRB under President Biden in December 2021. Moath is a talented artist, best known for his impressive sailing ships made out of recycled materials, which have been featured in several exhibitions of prisoners' art in the U.S., and also featured in a video made for the New York Times.
  3. 038 Ridah Al Yazidi (Tunisia) Cleared for release in 2010. He is reportedly still held because he has refused to engage with the authorities regarding his transfer.
  4. 039 Ali Hamza Al Bahlul (Yemen) Convicted pre-Obama, and given a life sentence, although that conviction was largely, but not entirely overturned on appeal; see Ali Hamza Al-Bahlul, David Hicks and the Legal Collapse of the Military Commissions at Guantánamo and In Contentious Split Decision, Appeals Court Upholds Guantánamo Prisoner Ali Hamza Al-Bahlul’s Conspiracy Conviction. Rather disturbingly, most of al-Bahlul's sentence (15 years to date) has been spent in almost total solitary confinement.
  5. 242 Khaled Qassim (Khalid Qasim) (Yemen) Recommended for continued detention, but determined to be eligible for a Periodic Review Board in April 2013, his review took place in February 2015 and he was recommended for ongoing detention in March 2015, a decision that was upheld in March 2020, and was again upheld in December 2021. He was finally approved for release by a second PRB under President Biden in July 2022. Another talented artist, Qassim's work has also been featured in several exhibitions of prisoners' art in the U.S., and we covered it here in 2020, and also published a profile of him by his friend, the released prisoner Mansoor Adayfi.
  6. 309 Muieen Abd Al Sattar (UAE) Cleared for release in 2010. He is reportedly still held because he has refused to engage with the authorities regarding his transfer.
  7. 569 Suhayl Al Sharabi (Zohair Al Shorabi) (Yemen) Recommended for prosecution by the task force in January 2010, but determined to be eligible for a Periodic Review Board in April 2013, his review took place in March 2016 and he was recommended for ongoing imprisonment in March 2016. In March 2019, he boycotted his hearing, and his ongoing imprisonment was upheld. He was finally approved for release by a PRB under President Biden in November 2021.
  8. 708 Ismael Al Bakush (Libya) Recommended for continued detention, but determined to be eligible for a Periodic Review Board in April 2013, his review took place in July 2016 and he was recommended for ongoing imprisonment in August 2016, a decision that was upheld in November 2020. He was finally approved for release by a PRB under President Biden in September 2022.
  9. 841 Said Salih Said Nashir (Hani Saleh Rashid Abdullah) (Yemen) Recommended for continued detention, but determined to be eligible for a Periodic Review Board in April 2013, his review took place in April 2016, and he was recommended for ongoing imprisonment in November 2016; another review took place almost immediately, in December 2016, but in January 2017 his ongoing imprisonment was again upheld. In October 2020, however, he became the only prisoner under Donald Trump to have his release recommended by a PRB.
  10. 893 Tawfiq Al Bihani (Toffiq Al Bihani) (Saudi Arabia) Cleared for release in 2010. His attorney George Clarke has explained that "he was supposed to be settled in Saudi Arabia with nine other men in April [2017], but 'he was pulled at the last minute.'" Clarke added, "No one will tell me what the security issue is."
  11. 1017 Omar Al Rammah (Zakaria al-Baidany) (Yemen) Recommended for continued detention and possible transfer to detention in the U.S., but determined to be eligible for a Periodic Review Board in April 2013, his review took place in July 2016 and he was recommended for ongoing imprisonment in August 2016. Another review took place in February 2017, but, shamefully, did not deliver its ruling until October 2020, when the board recommended him for ongoing imprisonment. He was finally approved for release by a PRB under President Biden in December 2021.
  12. 1453 Sanad Al Kazimi (Yemen) Recommended for prosecution by the task force in January 2010, but determined to be eligible for a Periodic Review Board in April 2013, his review took place in May 2016 and he was recommended for ongoing imprisonment in June 2016. In December 2018, he boycotted his hearing, and his ongoing imprisonment was upheld, but he was finally approved for release under President Biden in October 2021.
  13. 1456 Hassan Bin Attash (Saudi Arabia) Recommended for prosecution by the task force in January 2010, but determined to be eligible for a Periodic Review Board in April 2013, his review took place in September 2016 and he was recommended for ongoing imprisonment in October 2016. In September 2019, he boycotted his hearing, and his ongoing imprisonment was upheld, but he was finally approved for release under President Biden in April 2022.
  14. 1457 Abdu Ali Sharqawi (Sharqawi Al Hajj) (Yemen) Recommended for prosecution by the task force in January 2010, but determined to be eligible for a Periodic Review Board in April 2013, his first review took place in March 2016 and he was recommended for ongoing imprisonment in April 2016. A second review took place in February 2017, upholding his ongoing imprisonment a month later, and in February 2019, he boycotted his hearing, and his ongoing imprisonment was again upheld. Shockingly, in 2019, he also attempted to commit suicide while on a phone call with his lawyers, and harmed himself again in March 2020. In April 2021, his fourth PRB hearing took place, and in June 2021 he was recommended for release. His attorney, Pardiss Kebriaei of the Center for Constitutional Rights, wrote about his plight for the Guardian on January 11, 2024, marking the 22nd anniversary of the opening of the prison.
  15. 1463 Abdulsalam Al Hela (Yemen) Recommended for continued detention and possible transfer to detention in the U.S., but determined to be eligible for a Periodic Review Board in April 2013, his review took place in May 2016 and he was recommended for ongoing imprisonment in June 2016, a decision that was upheld in June 2018. In March 2021, he had another hearing, and was finally recommended for release in June 2021. He has also been challenging his ongoing imprisonment in the U.S. courts, although an appeals court ruling in April 2023 was frustratingly inconclusive.
  16. 10011 Mustafa Al Hawsawi (Saudi Arabia) Recommended for prosecution in connection with the 9/11 attacks, he was charged in 2011, with four other men, and pre-trial hearings have been underway since 2012. We discussed his case here, and, in particular, the disturbing effects of his torture in CIA "black sites," and, in January 2024, the European Court of Human Rights found that Lithuania had violated his rights when he was held in a CIA "black site" in its territory, and was complicit in his unlawful rendition, detention, and torture, ordering Lithuania "to conduct an effective investigation and to pay him compensation."
  17. 10013 Ramzi Bin Al Shibh (Yemen) Recommended for prosecution in connection with the 9/11 attacks, he was charged in 2011, with four other men, and pre-trial hearings have been underway since 2012. In September 2023, the judge in the 9/11 case, Air Force Col. Matthew McCall, declared him unfit to stand trial after a DoD Sanity Board found that his torture had made him psychotic.
  18. 10014 Waleed Bin Attash (Saudi Arabia) Recommended for prosecution in connection with the 9/11 attacks, he was charged in 2011, with four other men, and pre-trial hearings have been underway since 2012.
  19. 10015 Abd Al Rahim Al Nashiri (Saudi Arabia) Recommended for prosecution in connection with the attack on the USS Cole in 2000, he was charged in 2011, and pre-trial hearings have been underway since 2012. In May 2023, however, the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention condemned his imprisonment as arbitrary detention, and demanded his release, and in August 2023 the judge in his case, Col. Lanny J. Acosta Jr., ruled that statements that he made to a so-called "clean team" of interrogators at Guantánamo, after his torture in CIA "black sites," were inadmissible as evidence.
  20. 10016 Abu Zubaydah (Palestine-Saudi Arabia) Recommended for prosecution by the task force in January 2010, but determined to be eligible for a Periodic Review Board in April 2013, his review took place in August 2016, when his ongoing imprisonment was upheld, as it was again in March 2020. In July 2021, his case was reviewed again, but 23 months later, in June 2023, his ongoing imprisonment was upheld yet again. In April 2023, the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention condemned his ongoing imprisonment as arbitrary detention, and expressed "grave concern" that the very basis of the detention system at Guantanamo "may constitute crimes against humanity."
  21. 10017 Abu Faraj Al Libi (Libya) Recommended for prosecution by the task force in January 2010, but determined to be eligible for a Periodic Review Board in April 2013, his review took place in August 2016 and he was recommended for ongoing imprisonment in September 2016. In May 2019, he boycotted his hearing, and his ongoing imprisonment was upheld, as it was again in August 2022, after his decision to attend a hearing for the very first time. In August 2023, another review was held, but he again refused to attend, and in November his ongoing imprisonment without charge or trial was upheld yet again.
  22. 10018 Ammar Al Baluchi (Ali Abd Al Aziz Ali) (Pakistan-Kuwait) Recommended for prosecution in connection with the 9/11 attacks, he was charged in 2011, with four other men, and pre-trial hearings have been underway since 2012. Last year, we discussed the brain damage he suffered as a result of his torture in CIA "black sites," and fears for his physical health after a small tumor was found on his spine.
  23. 10019 Riduan Isamuddin (Hambali) (Indonesia) Recommended for prosecution by the task force in January 2010, but determined to be eligible for a Periodic Review Board in April 2013, his review took place in August 2016 and he was recommended for ongoing imprisonment in September 2016. In January 2021, just as Joe Biden took office, the Pentagon announced its intention to file charges against him in a military commission, along with Mohammed Farik Bin Amin (ISN 10021) and Mohammed Bin Lep (ISN 10022), although in 2023 his case was separated from that of the Malaysians, who, in January 2024 agreed to a plea deal that involved them agreeing to give evidence against Hambali.
  24. 10021 Mohammed Farik Bin Amin (Mohd Farik Bin Amin, Zubair) (Malaysia) Recommended for prosecution by the task force in January 2010, but determined to be eligible for a Periodic Review Board in April 2013, his review took place in August 2016 and he was recommended for ongoing imprisonment in September 2016. In May 2019, he failed to attend his hearing, and his ongoing imprisonment was upheld. In January 2021, just as Joe Biden took office, the Pentagon announced its intention to file charges against him in a military commission, along with Riduan Isamuddin (ISN 10019) and Mohammed Bin Lep (ISN 10022). In 2023 the Malaysians' cases were separated from that of Hambali, and in January 2024 they agreed to a plea deal that involved them agreeing to give evidence against him.
  25. 10022 Mohammed Nazir Bin Lep (Lillie) (Malaysia) Recommended for prosecution by the task force in January 2010, but determined to be eligible for a Periodic Review Board in April 2013, his review took place in August 2016 and he was recommended for ongoing imprisonment in September 2016. In June 2019, he boycotted his hearing, and his ongoing imprisonment was upheld. In January 2021, just as Joe Biden took office, the Pentagon announced its intention to file charges against him in a military commission, along with Riduan Isamuddin (ISN 10019) and Mohammed Farik Bin Amin (ISN 10021). In 2023 the Malaysians' cases were separated from that of Hambali, and in January 2024 they agreed to a plea deal that involved them agreeing to give evidence against him.
  26. 10023 Guled Hassan Duran (Gouled Hassan Dourad) (Somalia) Recommended for continued detention and possible transfer to detention in the U.S., but determined to be eligible for a Periodic Review Board in April 2013, his review took place in August 2016 and he was recommended for ongoing imprisonment in September 2016, a decision that was upheld in November 2018. He was finally approved for release by a PRB under President Biden in November 2021.
  27. 10024 Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (Pakistan-Kuwait) Recommended for prosecution in connection with the 9/11 attacks, he was charged in 2011, with four other men, and pre-trial hearings have been underway since 2012. As we reported here, efforts to break the deadlock in the 9/11 trial through plea deals seem to have been thwarted by President Biden.
  28. 10025 Mohammed Abdul Malik (Mohammed Abdul Malik Bajabu) (Kenya) Recommended for continued detention, but determined to be eligible for a Periodic Review Board in April 2013, his review took place in May 2016 and he was recommended for ongoing imprisonment in June 2016. In July 2019, he boycotted his hearing, and his ongoing imprisonment was upheld. He was finally approved for release by a PRB under President Biden in December 2021.
  29. 10026 Abd Al Hadi Al Iraqi (Iraq) Recommended for prosecution and charged, even though he had been determined to be eligible for a Periodic Review Board in April 2013, he agreed to a plea deal in June 2022, and is supposed to be freed by June 2024, although he cannot be repatriated, and it will be difficult to find a third country prepared to offer him the lifelong care he needs, as Guantánamo’s most physically disabled prisoner.
  30. 10029 Muhammad Rahim (Afghanistan) Recommended for continued detention and possible transfer to detention in the U.S., but determined to be eligible for a Periodic Review Board in April 2013, his review took place in August 2016 and he was recommended for ongoing imprisonment in September 2016, a decision that was upheld in November 2019, and again in April 2022. In August 2023, another review took place, at which he eloquently pleaded for his release, but his ongoing imprisonment without charge or trial was again upheld in November 2023.

Some background to the list

196 of the 779 prisoners were released under President Obama, and although no prisoners were released for 15 months from January 2011, two Uighur prisoners (Muslims from China's Xinjiang province) were released in April 2012, another man, Ibrahim al-Qosi, who was given a two-year sentence after a plea deal in July 2010, was released in July 2012, and in September 2012, Omar Khadr, a former child prisoner, was transferred to Canada to serve the rest of the sentence he negotiated as part of plea deal in October 2010.

In August 2013, following a promise to resume releasing prisoners that President Obama made in May, after the majority of the remaining prisoners had embarked on a hunger strike to remind the world of their plight, two Algerians — cleared for release in January 2010 by the inter-agency Guantánamo Review Task Force that President Obama established when he took office in January 2009 — were released, and in December 2013 two more Algerians were repatriated — although these two men didn't want to go home — and two Saudis were then released.

These releases were then followed by the repatriation of two Sudanese prisoners — Noor Uthman Muhammed, as the result of a plea deal in February 2011, and Ibrahim Idris, who had been cleared for release by the task force, but whose eventual release was ordered by a judge after the Justice Department failed to contest his habeas corpus petition, accepting that he was severely mentally ill.

At the end of 2013, three more men were given new homes in Slovakia — the last of the 22 Uighurs (Muslims from China's oppressed Xinjiang province) whose release into the U.S. had been ordered by a judge in October 2008, but then overturned.

In March 2014, another Algerian — Ahmed Belbacha — was repatriated, and on May 31, 2014, five Taliban prisoners were released in Qatar, in exchange for the release of the sole U.S. prisoner of war in Afghanistan, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who had been held by the Taliban-affiliated Haqqani Network since 2009.

In November 2014, Fawzi al-Odah, one of the last two Kuwaitis in Guantánamo, was freed, and, also in November 2014, six more prisoners were released — three Yemenis were given new homes in Georgia, a Yemeni and a Tunisian were resettled in Slovakia, and a Saudi was repatriated.

In December, six more men were released — four Syrians, a Palestinian and a Tunisian — who were accepted as refugees in Uruguay, and four Afghans were repatriated, and the very end of the year five more men — two Tunisians and three Yemenis — were sent to Kazakhstan.

In January 2015, another five men — all Yemenis — were resettled. Four of the men were sent to Oman, while the fifth was sent to Estonia, and in June 2015 another six Yemenis were resettled in Oman. In September 2015, a Moroccan was repatriated, and also a Saudi, who was a long-term hunger striker, and at the end of October a Mauritanian was repatriated, and Shaker Aamer, the last British resident in the prison, was released and returned to the U.K. On November 13, five Yemenis were released, sent to the United Arab Emirates, where, sadly, they were subjected to ongoing imprisonment until the Emirati authorities eventually repatriated them.

As 2016 began, two Yemenis were released, and given new homes in Ghana, Fayiz al-Kandari, the last Kuwaiti in the prison, was released, as was a Saudi, and ten Yemenis were given new homes in Oman. On the eve of the seventh anniversary of President Obama's promise to close the prison within a year (on January 22), it was announced that two more men had been freed — an Egyptian in Bosnia, and a Yemeni in Montenegro. In April, after over two months with no releases, two Libyans were given new homes in Senegal, although they were subsequently repatriated to Libya two years later, where they were imprisoned by militias, and nine Yemenis were then rehoused in Saudi Arabia. In June, another Yemeni was given a new home in Montenegro, and in July three more men were freed — one to Italy, and two to Serbia.

In August 2016, the largest single release under President Obama took place, when 15 men — 12 Yemenis and three Afghans — were sent to the United Arab Emirates, although they too were then subjected to ongoing imprisonment. Six of these men had been approved for release by Obama's task force in 2010, and nine others had been approved for release by Periodic Review Boards. In October, another release took place — of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, torture victim and best-selling author, who had also been approved for release by a PRB, and in December another Yemeni approved for release by a PRB was freed in Cape Verde. As 2017 began, President Obama released four more Yemeni prisoners — to Saudi Arabia. Ten men were released to Oman on Jan. 16, 2017, and four more men were released on Jan. 19, 2017, Obama's last day in office, some joining their beleaguered fellow former prisoners in the UAE.