FACTBOX: Five facts about the Guantanamo prisoners
(Reuters) - Here are five facts about the prisoners held at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
- There are about 320 prisoners held at Guantanamo, including about 80 whom U.S. military panels have cleared for release or transfer.
- About 450 other former Guantanamo captives have been released or transferred to other governments.
-Four Guantanamo prisoners committed suicide by hanging, three in June 2006 and one in May 2007, and the deaths are still under investigation by the Navy Criminal Investigative Service.
- The first captives arrived at Guantanamo on January 11, 2002, and the last known arrival was announced on September 12, 2007, after an Afghan man known as Inayatullah and described a high-level al Qaeda operative was sent there.
- Only one prisoner has been convicted in the Guantanamo war crimes tribunals and that was the result of a plea bargain. Australian David Hicks admitted training with al Qaeda and pleaded guilty in March to providing material support for terrorism. He was sent to Australia to serve a nine-month sentence that ends in late December.
Source: U.S. Department of Defense
- (Reporting by Jane Sutton in Miami, editing by Patricia Zengerle)
