Five Guantanamo Bay detainees transferred to Slovakia, Georgia

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Five Guantanamo Bay prisoners were released by the United States on Thursday on the eve of a new litigation push by human rights advocates.

Three of the men will be transferred to Georgia, while two will be taken to Slovakia after they were deemed eligible for release through a review process.

Four of the men are Yemeni, including Husayn Salim Muhammad al-Mutari Yafai, Salah Mohammed Salih al-Dhabi, Abdel Ghaib Ahmad Hakim and Abdul Khaled al-Bandana, all four of whom allegedly had al-Qaida connections. The fifth man, Hashim Bin Ali Bin Amor Sliti, of Tunisia, was accused of belonging to the Tunisian Combatant Group, also linked to al-Qaida.

All five were represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights, which argued its clients had been held indefinitely in violation of the constitution.

"We are grateful to the Republic of Georgia for offering our client a new home where he can begin to rebuild his life after more than a decade in Guantanamo without charge or trial," the center said of Hakim. "We are greatly gratified at the news of our client's release, and we look forward to him building a new life for himself in Georgia."

The men will be transferred to their new host countries, where they will either start a reintegration plan or they will make their own arrangements to rejoin society.

There are now 143 people in detention at Guantanamo Bay, the Pentagon said.