The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
May 23, 2013

U.S. to Resume Transfers of Guantánamo Prisoners 
--------------------------------------------------


 
President Obama will also use his speech today to outline new efforts to
close the U.S. military prison at Guantánamo Bay. Obama is reportedly
preparing to gradually lift his more than three-year ban on repatriating
Yemeni prisoners. The Yemeni transfers will likely begin at a slow pace
of around two or three prisoners at a time. More than half Guantánamo
Bay's 166 prisoners have been cleared for release, including 56 from
Yemen. More than 100 are currently on a hunger strike at Guantánamo to
protest their indefinite imprisonment. In a letter to the Pentagon, a
group of lawyers for Guantánamo prisoners pleaded for improved
conditions at the prison, writing: "While the hunger strike continues to
increase in scope and severity, there is much you can do, right now, to
improve the quality of life for all the prisoners."

 

.