75 cleared for Guantanamo release

Of the remaining 223 Guantanamo prisoners 75 have so far been cleared for release by an Obama administration task force as part of its effort to close the detention camp, a military spokesman said Monday.

The review team is examining each prisoner’s case to decide who will be held for trial and who can be sent home or resettled in other nations.

President Barack Obama had set a January 22 deadline to shut the detention camp.

“It was an opportunity to just provide better communication,” said Navy Lieutenant Commander Brook DeWalt, a spokesman for the Guantanamo detention operation. “There’s a lot of information out there and you get a lot of things from a lot of different angles. It helps put it in a more succinct context for them.”

The prisoners are aware of Obama’s announcement that the camp would be closed, DeWalt said.

Some on the list are among the 30 ordered freed by U.S. courts but still awaiting transfer, including 13 Chinese Uighurs. The Pacific island nation of Palau has agreed to accept most of them.