Detainee Transfer Announced
August 22, 2005

The Department of Defense announced today that it released three detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. This detainee movement included the release of one detainee to Yemen, one detainee to Tajikistan, and one detainee to Iran. This movement increases the number of detainees who have departed the Guantanamo Bay detention facility to 245.

This movement included two detainees found no longer to be enemy combatants by a Combatant Status Review Tribunal. One detainee was released to Yemen, and one was released to Tajikistan.

This movement also included one detainee recommended for release by the Administrative Review Board – the detainee was released to Iran.

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 the 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, DoD has transferred or released 242 detainees from GTMO – 174 for release, and 68 transferred to other governments (29 to Pakistan, five to Morocco, seven to France, seven to Russia, four to Saudi Arabia, two to Spain, one to Sweden, one to Kuwait, one to Australia, nine to Great Britain and two to Belgium). There are approximately 505 detainees currently at Guantanamo.