U.S. sends Uzbek from Guantanamo prison to Switzerland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An Uzbek detainee held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba has been sent to Switzerland for resettlement, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday.

The prisoner was the latest transferred from the facility as the Obama administration seeks to close the controversial prison opened in 2002 to house foreign terrorism suspects.

Obama's goal to close it within a year of taking office went unfulfilled last week.

There are still 192 prisoners at the facility, which has long been criticized by human rights activists and foreign governments. Obama and other critics say the prison has served as a recruiting symbol for anti-American militants.

The latest transfer represents a small acceleration by the Obama administration to remove detainees from the facility. Three detainees were sent to Slovakia on Sunday, two Algerians were sent home last week and 12 detainees were sent to Yemen, Afghanistan and Somaliland in late December.

The Justice Department declined to identify the Uzbek national sent to Switzerland. Last month Swiss Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said the individual will get immigrant status and be eligible to work.

The Swiss agreed to take the Guantanamo detainee on humanitarian grounds and said that he posed no danger, noting he had been cleared for release in 2005.

(Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky, editing by Sandra Maler)