WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Four detainees held at the controversial U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba have been transferred to Albania and Spain, the Justice Department said on Wednesday.
Three detainees originally from North Africa were sent to Albania, the department said. They were identified as Saleh Bin Hadi Asasi, originally from Tunisia; Sharif Fati Ali al Mishad, a native of Egypt; and Abdul Rauf Omar Mohammad Abu al Qusin from Libya.
The fourth man, transferred to Spain, was not identified beyond that he was from the Palestinian Territories. Spain has said it is willing to take up to five prisoners from the Guantanamo prison.
The Justice Department said it worked with the governments of Albania and Spain to "ensure the transfers took place under appropriate security measures and consultations" regarding these individuals would continue.
There are still 188 prisoners at the facility that President Barack Obama has pledged to close. He has argued that anti-American militants have used it as a recruiting tool for their causes.
But the effort by his administration to shut it has been stymied by legal and political hurdles, including reluctance by other countries to take detainees when none are expected to be released in the United States.
Since the Obama administration took office in 2009, 48 detainees have been transferred overseas while one has been sent to New York to face criminal charges for the 1998 bombing of U.S. embassies in Africa.
Separately, a U.S. judge in Washington rejected petitions by two Yemeni detainees -- Suleiman Awadh Bin Agil Al-Nahdi and Fahmi Salem Al-Assani -- to be released from the Guantanamo prison. The opinions by Judge Gladys Kessler were classified.
About 32 detainees have won release from the Guantanamo prison through habeas corpus petitions in U.S. court while 11 have had their requests for release rejected.
(Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky and James Vicini; editing by Mohammad Zargham)
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