Switzerland Takes in 1 Guantanamo Detainee

Swiss Minister of Justice, Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf speaks during a press conference in Bern, Switzerland, 16 December 2009. The Swiss justice minister said that Switzerland will take one detainee of the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Photo

Switzerland has agreed to take in a prisoner from the Guantanamo Bay detention centre, as a gesture of support to the United States government in its efforts to close the camp.

The detainee, from Uzbekistan, has never been charged or tried, and suspected links with terrorist groups have never been proven. US authorities say he was ‘cleared for release’ in 2005, World Radio Switzerland reported.

He will be given permission to live in the canton of Geneva, after applying to the government saying he would obey Swiss law, learn the language of his new home and find work.

In announcing the decision to take him in on humanitarian grounds, the Federal Cabinet said it aims to play a part in ‘solving the Guantanamo problem’.

The transfer still needs to be approved by the US Congress, said Justice Ministry spokeswoman Brigitte Hauser-Sueess.

Obama ordered the Guantanamo facility closed by January 2010, but said last month he would miss the deadline. There are over 200 detainees at the prison.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!