update on Guantanamo current statistics....

Attached, reflecting the recent news that Shaker Aamer and Ahmed Abdulaziz have been released.

The prison population now stands at 112: 52* are cleared, 50 are awaiting clearance, and 10 are in the military commission system (of those, 7 are in “active” “trial” proceedings while 3 have been “convicted”).

Of the 52 cleared, 43 (82.7%) are Yemenis and 9 are non-Yemenis.

Of the 50 awaiting clearance, 24 are Yemenis and 26 are non-Yemenis.

The PRB has now approved for transfer 14 of the 16 detainees for whom it has issued decisions.  Six detainees are officially in the PRB process and awaiting their first hearing or decision.  42 detainees are PRB-eligible but have not yet officially begun the process.  (For these purposes, a detainee is “officially in the PRB process” when he shows up on the PRB web page tracking individual detainees’ proceedings.)

h/o to Brian Foster for keeping track of these numbers..

Shaker is on his way home.....UPDATED

Good news today. It seems Shaker Aamer is back in Britain after being held for 14 years at Guantanamo for no reason... except of course that we could. More here.
Andy Worthington had this to say.
I will have a few words about Shaker once I know he is safely home and with his family- including his 14 year old child who was born after his arrest. Shaker will be meeting that child for the first time today.

I understand that Shaker is with his family now. Shaker has a long healing process as he was treated worse than many of the men currently held because of his role as a leader at the prison.
I quote from this paragraph of the N.Y. Times:

"At Guantánamo, Mr. Aamer became a leader of detainees engaged in a mass hunger strike, negotiating with the prison camp authorities. But after the protest escalated and three detainees apparently committed suicide simultaneously in June 2006, military officials isolated Mr. Aamer from the main inmate population."

It is precisely because of the role that Shaker played- not only because he was fluent in English and therefore could communicate with the prison authorities-but also because of the respect he earned from the detainees and from many of the authorities-- in those early years. But something changed prior to the so-called suicides in 2006 and almost from that point on Shaker was isolated from the other men. Years and years of solitary confinement have very likely taken a substantial toll on this man and this is yet another of the war crimes by my country. I hope that Shaker can move past what my country did to him and I really hope one day he can talk about it--- hopefully in a court of law with those responsible on trial.

I wish only the best for Shaker Aamer.