First ‘high value’ Guantánamo Bay detainee approved for transfer News
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First ‘high value’ Guantánamo Bay detainee approved for transfer

Somali prisoner and Guantánamo Bay detainee Guled Hassan Duran was approved for transfer and will be released from detention, his lawyers announced Monday. According to the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), Duran is the first detainee designated as “high value” to be approved for transfer.

Duran is a Somali citizen and was captured by the CIA in Djibouti in 2004 while traveling to Sudan for surgery. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) reported that Duran experienced serious medical issues at Guantanamo and did not receive prompt medical care. Duran believes the delay in care was meant to pressure him to reveal information.

In 2011, former President Barack Obama signed Executive Order 13567 to establish a process to regularly review the cases of individuals detained at Guantánamo Bay and created the Periodic Review Board (PRB). The PRB determines whether individuals at Guantánamo continue to pose a significant security threat to the United States.

The PRB order approving Duran’s release, dated November 10, 2021, reads:

The Review Committee, by consensus, determined that continued law of war detention is no longer necessary to protect against a continuing significant threat to the security of the United States. Consistent with Executive Order 13567, vigorous efforts will be undertaken to identify a suitable transfer location for ISN 10023 [Mr. Duran] outside the United States, subject to appropriate security and human treatment assurances.

The CCR said, “Mr. Duran has never posed a threat to the U.S. or its allies, and he never should have been detained.”

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