Five Guantanamo prisoners freed

MIAMI – Five men from Yemen were freed from the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after more than a dozen years of captivity and sent to Estonia and Oman for resettlement, U.S. officials said Wednesday, the latest in a wave of releases that have alarmed congressional opponents of closing the detention center.

Four of the men went to Oman and one to Estonia, according to a Pentagon statement. It was the first time either nation accepted Guantanamo prisoners for resettlement. The men had been cleared for release since at least 2009 but the U.S. has balked at repatriating Guantanamo prisoners back to Yemen, where the government is battling an al-Qaida insurgency.

All five were captured in Pakistan and detained by the U.S. as suspected al-Qaida fighters. U.S. officials later determined it was no longer necessary to detain them but have struggled to find other countries willing to take them in.

The Obama administration has stepped up the prisoner releases in recent months. There are now 122 prisoners at Guantanamo. The recent releases have angered some members of Congress, who have argued Guantanamo is necessary to detain terrorism suspects. Republican senators Tuesday proposed restrictions that would bar transfers to Yemen for two years and suspend the transfer of men previously classified as high-risk or medium-risk.