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A closed-off area at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. - Source: Reuters -
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The US government has decided the fate of about half the detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp, and no more than a quarter of them will go on trial, Attorney General Eric Holder said.
President Barack Obama's order for the prison for foreign terrorism suspects on a naval base in Cuba to be closed by the end of January has met resistance in Congress where some lawmakers are opposing any transfers to the United States.
Last week nine prisoners were transferred to Saudi Arabia, Bermuda, Iraq and Chad. One prisoner, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, accused of involvement in the 1998 US embassy bombings in Africa, was sent to New York and became the first detainee transferred to the United States for trial by civilian court.
"We've gone through about half of the detainees at this point," Holder said at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
There are 229 captives still being held at Guantanamo. The camp, opened after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, drew international criticism for holding prisoners indefinitely, many without charge.
When pressed on whether the number of detainees to go to trial would be 25 percent or less, Holder replied: "That might be about right."
A Justice Department spokesman said the final number of Guantanamo Bay detainees who would be recommended for trial had not been determined.
He would not provide a breakdown of what had been decided for half the Guantanamo Bay prison population in which a determination had been made.
Obama has said that some of the prisoners may end up being held without trial, and Holder said in those cases there would likely be some form of periodic review of their status.
Some US lawmakers who have expressed concern about bringing Guantanamo Bay prisoners to the United States say it would be too dangerous even to hold them in jail.
Senator Patrick Leahy, the Democratic chairman of the committee, challenged those concerns and said in the debate over allowing the detainees into the United States "political rhetoric has drowned out reason and reality."
He said the US criminal justice system had safely handled extremely dangerous criminals and "more than a few terrorists."
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