UK's last detainee, Shaker Aamer, released from Guantanamo
Shaker Aamer, a British resident and Saudi citizen, who had been held at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility since 2002, has been released, according to the Pentagon.
The Defense Department announced Amer's repatriation to the U.K. Friday, and in a statement said that the U.S. coordinated with the U.K. in order "to ensure this transfer took place consistent with appropriate security and humane treatment measures." Defense Secretary Ashton Carter had approved Aamer's transfer last month, following a thorough review of Aamer's case.
British Prime Minister David Cameron had directly appealed to the president for a transfer for Aamer a year ago, and in fact, Aamer was first approved for a transfer in 2007. Mr. Obama personally assured Cameron that Aamer would be transferred to British custody.
Aamer was the only remaining British resident at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility. Born in Saudi Arabia, he once worked as a translator for the U.S. Army in Saudi Arabia, and then settled in London with his British wife.
His family says that Aamer moved to Afghanistan in 2001 to work for a Muslim charity that built schools for Afghan orphans. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Afghan villagers captured him in December 2001 and turned him over to the U.S. military, which then transferred him to Guantanamo in February 2002 but never formally charged him with a crime.
Aamer's removal from Guantanamo will leave the facility with 112 detainees remaining.
On Thursday, the Defense Department also announced the repatriation of Ahmed Ould Abdel Aziz from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility to Mauritania. Aziz was, according to the Associated Press, thought to be a member of al Qaeda, after he was captured by Pakistan at a suspected al Qaeda safe house and turned over to the U.S. But he was never charged with any crime, and he was unanimously approved for transfer by six departments and agencies that make up the Guantanamo Review Task Force.
The Associated Press reported that Aziz would be reunited with his wife and son, and he plans to work at his brother-in-law's newspaper.
President Obama has long wanted to close Guantanamo, over the objections of most Republicans. His promise to close the detention center goes back to his first presidential campaign, and once he was elected, he said during his very first days in office that he would shutter the facility. But now, with less than a year and a half left in his presidency, Guantanamo remains open. Mr. Obama conceded earlier this year that "the politics got tough."
Asked about the facility Thursday, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest blamed Congress for sabotaging the attempts to close it.
"[O]ur goal is to get the population at the prison at Guantanamo Bay down to zero. And the only reason we haven't been able to do that is because we've run into objections from members of Congress," Earnest said, blaming both Democrats and Republicans.
Earnest also did not deny that the president is open to using his executive powers to close Guantanamo in next 15 months.
For several months, the White House and Congress have been talking about a plan for closure, although its prospects are uncertain. In June, Carter told CBS News, "I'm not confident, but I am hopeful," Carter said. "I think we'll have a good proposal, and I think we're hoping it wins the support that it needs in Congress, so that we can move forward."
To that end, the administration has been scouting locations in the U.S. where remaining detainees "who can't be safely released" might be moved -- "these are facilities that have previously held dangerous people," Earnest said.
CBS News' Jillian Hughes contributed to this report