Oman to expel dozens of ex-Guantánamo detainees
For several years, Oman had promised them a new life. The quiet Persian Gulf monarchy had given 28 Yemenis, transferred there from the U.S. military prison at Guantánamo Bay, housing, health care and jobs — and even had helped them find wives and start families. It was a stunning turn of fortune after years of abusive interrogations and detention without charge. Sign up for Fact Checker, our weekly review of what's true, false or in-between in politics. But now, the nation that human rights attorneys had hailed as the “gold standard” in the rehabilitation of Muslim men swept up in America’s War on Terror, is casting them aside, the men and advocates said. Starting in January, Omani officials began calling the men into meetings where they explained that, come July, they would be stripped of their benefits and legal residency and would have to return to Yemen. “It was a huge shock for all of us,” said one of the men, Husam, who spoke on the condition that The Washington Post not use his real name because he said the government had threatened the men against speaking to the media. For years, Oman had been “so supportive, so helpful. They told us: ‘You are here to stay. This is your home,’” said Husam, a middle-aged father of three young children. But now, said Husam, “They said, ‘Your time is finished, and you have to leave.’”
Oman’s move comes as another transfer of Guantánamo detainees hangs in the balance. Last fall, the Biden administration had planned to send Oman 11 more Yemenis, a plan that was first reported by NBC News on Monday. But the administration, at the urging of members of Congress, paused the transfer after the outbreak of war in Gaza, following Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, U.S. officials said. Administration officials said they still hope the transfer will occur. It is unclear whether Oman’s threatened expulsion of the original group of 28 Yemenis resettled there is connected to the government’s agreement to accept the new group.
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