Feds Release Names of Guantanamo Prisoners Cleared for Transfer

Originally, the Obama administration was going to keep the names secret, because ...

The government today released the names of 55 of the prisoners cleared for transfer from the prison at Guantánamo Bay. The prisoners were unanimously approved for transfer by President Obama's inter-agency Guantánamo Bay Review Task Force, which announced a summary of its findings in January 2010. However, before today the government had said the list could not be released because doing so would hamper efforts to repatriate and resettle prisoners in other countries.

"Today's release is a partial victory for transparency, and it should also be a spur to action," said Zachary Katznelson, senior staff attorney with the ACLU's National Security Project. "These men have now spent three years in prison since our military and intelligence agencies all agreed they should be released. Not on the list, of course, is Adnan Latif, who died in his cell earlier this month despite having been repeatedly approved for release from Guantánamo. It is well past time to release and resettle these unfairly imprisoned men."