The Obama Administration has disclosed the identities of 55 terrorist prisoners of war cleared for release from the nation's military detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The list represents about a third of the 167 terrorists still in detention at Guantanamo.
Many of the men are from Yemen, where the United States suspended repatriations in 2010 because of U.S. concerns that prisoners have become re-involved with al-Qaida terrorists based there.
Friday's release marks a reversal of the Obama administration's 2009 decision to keep the names of cleared detainees secret.
The administration says it protected the information to “maintain flexibility” in negotiating potential detainee transfers to other countries.
But the government said in a court filing Friday that “circumstances have changed” such that decisions to approve prisoners for transfer “no longer warrant protection.”
It pointed out that 28 detainees have been repatriated to their native countries since 2009, while 40 have been resettled in third countries. VoA.
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