DUBLIN, Ireland, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- Ireland will take in two Guantanamo inmates in a bid to help the United States close the controversial military detention center.
"In making this decision I am conscious of the intention of the United States to close the center at Guantanamo Bay, in part by transferring detainees, no longer regarded as posing a threat to security but who cannot return to their own countries, to other countries willing to accept them," Irish Justice Minister Dermot Ahern said in a statement.
According to the Irish Times, the two prisoners are from Uzbekistan and were chosen after a delegation from the Irish Justice Department interviewed them inside the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Ahern read the delegation's findings and agreed to resettle the men in Ireland, he said at a meeting with Dan Rooney, the recently appointed U.S. ambassador to Ireland. The inmates are expected to arrive in Ireland within the next two months.
Ahern urged people to grant the inmates "time and space to adjust to their new circumstances when they arrive."
Several human rights groups welcomed the move, which is a further step toward the closure of Guantanamo.
"While Guantanamo is the responsibility of the United States, other countries made it possible. They allowed people to be transferred through their territory, actively participated in illegal detentions and kidnapping or, as in Ireland's case, they allowed their territory to be used as a staging area for rendition operations," Colm O'Gorman, head of Amnesty International Ireland, said in a statement. "Those countries that played a part in the system should follow Ireland's example and help shut it down."
Last month the European Union said it would assist Washington in closing Guantanamo but left it open to individual member states when it comes to accepting prisoners.
President Barack Obama wants to close Guantanamo by early 2010 at the latest. He has asked America's allies to take in inmates who are deemed innocent but can't return to their home countries because they could face abuse or torture there or because their governments are unwilling to take them back. Roughly 60 people from countries like Libya, China, Uzbekistan and Algeria fall under this category. Washington recently succeeded in resettling prisoners in Saudi Arabia, Palau and Bermuda but banks on Europe to take the lion's share.
Britain has already accepted eight inmates; Italy agreed to take in three and France one. Earlier this year Madrid said it is considering a request by Washington to relocate four prisoners to Spain. Germany has been approached twice but has so far resisted calls to resettle inmates. Berlin refused to take in a group of Uighurs, Muslim separatists from China who would face persecution if they returned home. Germany has a large Uighur minority living near Munich, and they are well integrated, but the government fears diplomatic repercussions from Beijing if it accepts the inmates. It also denied a request for two male inmates from Syria and Tunisia for security concerns, German news magazine Der Spiegel reported.
All EU member states part of the Schengen Agreement will have to cooperate in a joint coordination on the issue. Once granted residency by one Schengen country, the former inmates would be able to travel and resettle in other Schengen countries.
