An Obama administration task force has so far cleared 75 of the remaining 223 Guantanamo prisoners for release as part of its effort to close the detention camp, a military spokesman said today.
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 countries.
President Barack Obama had set a January 22nd deadline to shut the detention camp although Defence Secretary Robert Gates told ABC News in an interview broadcast yesterday that "it's going to be tough" to meet the deadline.
As the review team makes its decisions, military officials at Guantanamo are posting an updated list in the camps to let the prisoners know how many from each country have been judged free to go.
The list is posted in Arabic, Pashto and English. The latest list of 78 prisoners includes two Uzbeks sent to Ireland and a Yemeni returned to his homeland at the weekend, an indication that some progress is being made in thinning the camp population of those who are not considered a threat.
The prisoners are well aware of Mr Obama's announcement that the camp would be closed and have heard piecemeal information from their lawyers and relatives during phone calls arranged by the International Committee of the Red Cross, he said.
Some on the list are among the 30 ordered freed by US courts but still awaiting transfer, including 13 Chinese Uighurs. The Pacific island nation of Palau has agreed to accept most of them.
Also on the list are 26 other captives from Yemen, nine from Tunisia, seven from Algeria, four from Syria, three each from Libya and Saudi Arabia, two each from Uzbekistan, Egypt, the West Bank and Kuwait, and one each from Azerbaijan and Tajikistan.
Most were captured in Afghanistan and Pakistan after US troops invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to oust al-Qaeda in response to the September 11th attacks on the United States.
Reuters