Detainee Transfer Announced
January 16, 2005

The Department of Defense announced today that it transferred one detainee from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to Kuwait for prosecution. This transfer increases the number of detainees who have departed Guantanamo to 203.

The decision to transfer or release a detainee is based on many factors, including whether the detainee is of further intelligence value to the United States and whether the detainee is believed to pose a continuing threat to the United States, if released.

There are ongoing processes to review the status of detainees. A determination about the continued detention or transfer of a detainee is based on the best information and evidence available at the time. The circumstances in which detainees are apprehended can be ambiguous, and many of these detainees are highly skilled in concealing the truth.

During the course of the war on terrorism, the department expects that there will be other transfers or releases of detainees.

Because of operational and security considerations, no further details can be provided.

Prior to this transfer, 202 detainees had departed Guantanamo – 146 for release, and 56 transferred to the control of other governments (29 to Pakistan, five to Morocco, four to France, seven to Russia, four to Saudi Arabia, one to Spain, one to Sweden and five to Great Britain). Two hundred and three detainees have now departed Guantanamo. There are approximately 550 detainees currently at Guantanamo.