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Pentagon Approves 17 Gitmo Detainees for Transfer

© AP Photo / ANDRES LEIGHTONA detainee is escorted to interrogation by U.S. military guards at Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay.
A detainee is escorted to interrogation by U.S. military guards at Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay. - Sputnik International
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According to an official statement by US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, 17 prisoners will soon be moved from Gitmo to low-level prisons, after approving the transfer and notifying Congress on Thursday.

In this photo, reviewed by the US Military, a guard leans on a fencepost as a Guantanamo detainee, left, jogs inside the exercise yard at Camp 5 detention center, the U.S. Naval Base, in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, January 21, 2009 - Sputnik International
White House Rejects Pentagon's $600Mln Plan to Close, Relocate Gitmo
Guantanamo military prison has long been a contentious issue in the profile of US human rights. Many activists have repeatedly condemned the Obama administration for keeping the "forever detention" prison open, despite pledges the president made when he was running for office.

The US president's moves toward closing the detention facility continues with the release of the detainees who allegedly suffered 14 years of torture in the Cuba-based prison.

"We found homes for the 17," AFP cited an anonymous source as saying, adding that some countries have expressed a readiness to accept ex-Gitmo detainees.

After the transfer, the detention population be down to 90 prisoners.

The head of Amnesty International USA's Security and Human Rights program Naureen Shah responded to Carter's latest statement, calling the decision "overdue."

"Guantánamo has been a blight on the country's human rights record for nearly fourteen years, and this push to close it is long overdue. We're encouraged by the latest news and strongly urge the administration to move ahead with the transfer of all eligible detainees, without delay."

Earlier in December, the US government conceded that it had wrongly imprisoned a man in the controversial facility for 13 years due to a case of mistaken identity.

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