US sends Guantanamo prisoner back to Morocco

The 47-year-old Younis Abdurrahman Chekkouri was sent to his home country after six US departments and agencies unanimously approved his release, Pentagon officials said Thursday.

Moroccan officials did not release Chekkouri immediately after his arrival and are currently holding him "in a unknown location," according to his representatives from the human rights group Reprieve.

The group stated it was "unable to meet or speak to him since the US handed him to Moroccan authorities."

However, the organization managed to contact a brother of Chekkouri who reported the former prisoner "sounded OK and in good spirits," Reprieve attorney Cori Crider said.

In the past, prisoners from Guantanamo have spent days and even weeks undergoing medical checks and investigations before being released by their governments.

No charge

Chekkouri was arrested in Afghanistan in late 2001, under suspicion of being an associate of Osama Bin Laden and leader of al Qaeda training camps in the country. US authorities transferred him to Guantanamo in May 2002 but have never charged him with any crime.

The prisoner kept low profile during his internment. He spent most of his time in the communal areas of the detention center, reserved for the "most compliant" detainees.

Chekkouri's transfer to Morocco brings the prison population to 115, less than half since the beginning of Obama's presidency in 2009. The former prisoner has been sent to Morocco as a part of an effort to wind down and eventually close the controversial detention facility, according to the officials.

Obama's vow

The Guantanamo Review Task Force cleared Chekkouri for release as early as January 2010, but it took more than five years before he was set free. There are currently over 50 more prisoners who have been cleared by the authorities and are awaiting final approval for release.

Commenting on the remaining Guantanamo prisoners, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said that the process was slowed down by opposition from Congress.

"We've seen a number of obstacles erected by Congress intentionally to make this more difficult," Earnest told reporters.

The Obama administration is working on a plan to close down the prison in Cuba, and relocate the remaining prisoners to sites in the United States. To do so, they would need the US Congress to lift a ban on transferring the Guantanamo detainees to US soil.

The detention facility, located within a US military base, has sparked heavy criticism over its treatment of inmates. Obama vowed to close the prison down during his presidential campaign for the 2008 election. He now has a little over a year to fulfill his promise.

dj/sms (AP, AFP, Reuters)