List of Guantanamo Bay detainees

This article is about all detainees that have spent time at Guantanamo Bay. For detainees currently held at Guantanamo, see List of current detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

Detainees by nationality

  Afghans (29%)
  Saudis (17%)
  Yemenis (15%)
  Pakistanis (9%)
  Algerians (3%)
  Others (27%)

As of December 2023, 30 detainees remain at Guantanamo Bay.[1][2][3] This list of Guantánamo prisoners has the known identities of prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba, but is compiled from various sources and is incomplete. In official documents, the United States Department of Defense (DoD) continues to make intermittent efforts to redact prisoner's names. As of September 2005 they had not published an official list of detainees. On April 19, 2006, the DoD released a list with 558 names in what appears to be a fax or other scanned image.[4] The Associated Press published the list in more accessible text form.[5]

The Washington Post maintains a list of the prisoners known or suspected to have been held in Guantánamo Bay.[6] On March 3, 2006 the DoD partially complied with a court order to release the names of the remaining Guantánamo detainees. The court order required the DoD to release the names of all the detainees.[7] Initially, the DoD released only 317 names. On April 19, 2006, the DoD released a list with 558 names. Although Judge Jed Rakoff had already dismissed this argument, Pentagon spokesmen Bryan Whitman justified withholding the names out of a concern for the detainees' privacy. On April 20, 2006, the DoD released a portable document format file that listed 558 names.[4] The 558 individuals on the list were those whose detention had been reviewed by a Combatant Status Review Tribunal (CSRT). The list gave the detainee's ID number, their name, and their home country.

The names of several hundred prisoners who had been released prior to the commencement of the CSRTs were not released. The list did not specify whether the prisoners were still in detention at Guantanamo; whether they had been determined to be "enemy combatants"; whether they were released, or repatriated to the custody of their home countries. On May 15, 2006, the DOD released what they called a complete list of all 759 former and current inmates who had been held in military custody in the detainment camps after a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) action was filed by the Associated Press.[8][9] On June 17, 2013, the Miami Herald published a list, obtained using the Freedom of Information Act, of 48 prisoners who were designated for indefinite detainment.[10][11] On May 31, 2014, the Obama Administration was reported to have swapped 5 prisoners (Abdul Haq Wasiq, Mullah Norullah Nori, Khairullah Khairkhwa, Mohammed Nabi and Mohammed Fazi) in return for Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl who was captured after deserting his post.

On January 16, 2017, the Federal government of the United States announced that ten more prisoners were released to Oman, leaving about 45 detainees.[12][13] Of all prisoners at Guantanamo, Afghans were the largest group (29 percent), followed by Saudi Arabians (17 percent), Yemenis (15 percent), Pakistanis (9 percent), and Algerians (3 percent). Overall, 50 nationalities were present at Guantanamo.[14]

  1. ^ "The Guantánamo Docket". The New York Times. 11 December 2023. Archived from the original on 10 January 2024. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  2. ^ "The Guantanamo Docket". The New York Times. May 2, 2018. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
  3. ^ Rosenberg, Carol (2 April 2022). "U.S. Sends Algerian Man Home from Guantánamo Bay After 5-Year Delay". The New York Times.
  4. ^ a b 'List of detainees who went through complete CSRT process' (PDF, scanned) Archived 2013-03-04 at the Wayback Machine Department of Defense April 19, 2006.
  5. ^ 'Official Pentagon List of Detainees /page not found Nov 2018' (Text version of DoD list) Associated Press April 19, 2006.
  6. ^ List of Guantánamo detainee names, Washington Post
  7. ^ US to release partial list of Guantánamo detainees Archived 2006-10-25 at the Wayback Machine, Reuters, March 3, 2006
  8. ^ Archive of Official list of all Guantanamo prisoners, Department of Defense, May 15, 2006
  9. ^ US names 759 Guantanamo inmates, The Age, May 16, 2006.
  10. ^ Rosenberg, Carol (17 Jun 2013). "FOIA suit reveals Guantanamo's 'indefinite detainees'". The Miami Herald. The McClatchy Company. Retrieved 2013-06-18.
  11. ^ "List of 'indefinite detainees'". The Miami Herald. The McClatchy Company. 17 Jun 2013. Retrieved 2013-06-18.
  12. ^ Myre, Greg (2017-01-16). "10 Guantanamo Prisoners Freed In Oman; 45 Detainees Remain". NPR. Retrieved 2018-11-12.
  13. ^ "Trump Inherits Guantanamo's Remaining Detainees". NPR.org.
  14. ^ Deutschmann, Emanuel (August 14, 2014). "Between Collaboration and Disobedience The Behavior of the Guacamole Detainees and its Consequences". Journal of Conflict Resolution. doi:10.1177/0022002714545331. S2CID 146751964.