WASHINGTON - The United States has transferred five Guantanamo Bay prisoners to Europe as part of efforts to empty and close the controversial US military detention center in Cuba, officials said Thursday.
This April 8, 2014 photo made during an escorted visit and reviewed by the US military shows an unidentified detainee walking in the excercise yard of the "Camp 6" detention facility at the US Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
Three Yemeni prisoners were sent to Georgia, while a fourth Yemeni and a Tunisian were transferred to Slovakia, Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Myles Caggins said.
They arrived by plane around 1900 GMT, leaving behind 143 terror suspects at Guantanamo.
The five men -- among them the very first Yemenis to be transferred to Guantanamo in 2010 -- had been cleared for release by President Barack Obama's administration.
Most of the prisoners still languishing at the US naval base are from Yemen. Of the 84 detainees from that country, 54 have been cleared for release.
Obama lifted a moratorium in May on transfers of Yemeni prisoners, but none had been released until now due to political instability in Yemen and the risk of returning to the fight.
Hashim Bin Ali Bin Amor Sliti and Husayn Salim Muhammad al-Mutari Yafai were sent to Slovakia.
"The United States is grateful to the Government of Slovakia for its willingness to support ongoing US efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility," the Pentagon said in a statement.
"The United States coordinated with the government of Slovakia to ensure these transfers took place consistent with appropriate security and humane treatment measures."
A similar statement was released about the transfers to Georgia of Salah Mohammed Salih Al Dhabi, Abdel Ghalib Ahmad Hakim and Abdul Khaled al-Baydani.
"We are grateful to the Republic of Georgia for offering our client a new home where he can begin to rebuild his life after more than a decade in Guantanamo without charge or trial," said the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represented Hakim.
"As we welcome (his) resettlement, we are reminded that the remaining Yemeni men should be sent home or resettled without further delay," CCR senior attorney Wells Dixon said.
CCR Yemen expert Ibraham Qatabi noted that Yemen's Ambassador Adel Alsunaini and the Embassy of Yemen had provided assistance on the Yemeni prisoners' case, and that the country has offered to receive or resettle its nationals remaining at Guantanamo.