[JURIST] A Yemeni government official said Wednesday that Yemen will build a rehabilitation center for Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archives] detainees. According to the anonymous official, Yemen will begin building [Reuters report] once it receives funding for the $11 million project promised by the US. It is believed the rehabilitation center will be internationally financed and monitored [Telegraph report]. The project will be discussed on Wednesday at a meeting intended to garner international support in the wake of discovering that a Yemeni branch of al Qaeda trained the Nigerian man involved in the attempted Christmas day bombing [JURIST news archive].

The White House announced earlier this month that the US government will suspend transfers [JURIST report] of Guantanamo Bay detainees to Yemen based on security concerns. Most of the nearly 200 detainees remaining at Guantanamo are Yemeni, and many detainees have been transferred back to Yemen. Earlier this month, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit [official website] upheld the detention [JURIST report] of Yemeni Guantanamo detainee Ghaleb Nassar Al-Bihani [NYT materials], ruling that he can remain in US custody, but, last month, the US government transferred six detainees [JURIST report] back to Yemen. Also last month, a federal judge granted Yemeni detainee Saeed Hatim's petition for habeas corpus, ordering his release [JURIST report].