Updated: Three Guantanamo Bay inmates transferred to Georgia

Updated 6pm:Three detainees from Guantanamo Bay have been transferred to Georgia as part of the United States’ plan to reduce the facility’s population of detainees who were suspected of terrorism, say Georgian officials.

The three inmates are already in Georgia and will not go to prison but take part in a rehabilitation and resocialisation humanitarian program, announced Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs in a statement on Friday afternoon.

"At the request of the US, which is Georgia’s strategic partner, the three detainees from Yemen who no longer posed a threat were transferred to Georgia. It is absolutely safe for the former prisoners to live in our country,” the Ministry noted.

Meanwhile three Guantanamo detainees were first transferred to Georgia in 2010.

Georgia’s Deputy Interior Minister Levan Izoria confirmed these three former prisoners had already left Georgia and returned to their homelands.

"We, as the Interior Ministry [who are] responsible for the safety and security our country, take the responsibility to provide safety for our citizens and [transferred] prisoners,” Izoria said.

"The [transferred] prisoners will be under observation but the balance which is needed for their integration into society will be provided.”

Earlier, 12.25pm:

Three detainees at Guantanamo Bay will be transferred to Georgia as part of the United States’ plan to reduce the facility’s population of detainees who were suspected of terrorism, say officials.

The three inmates, as well as two others who were transferred to Slovakia, were reviewed by a special agency who determined the men no longer posed a threat, the US Department of Defence said in a statement on Thursday. All five detainees were Yemenis.

"The United States is grateful to the Government of Georgia for its willingness to support ongoing US efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. The United States coordinated with the Government of Georgia to ensure these transfers took place consistent with appropriate security and humane treatment measures,” the US Department of Defence said.

The US Department of Defence named the three men as Salah Mohammed Salih Al-Dhabi, Abdul Khaled Al-Baydani and Abdel Ghalib Ahmad Hakim.

According to CNN, Hakim was represented by the Centre for Constitutional Rights, which identified him as Abd Al Hakim Ghalib Ahmad Alhag.

Attorneys for the Centre praised Alhag's transfer out of the infamous prison.

"We are grateful to the Republic of Georgia for offering our client a new home where he can begin to rebuild his life after more than a decade in Guantanamo without charge or trial,” the Centre said in a statement.

The inmates’ resettlement was a significant policy change in the Obama administration’s effort to close the prison at the naval base in Cuba.

Obama's vow to close Guantanamo was thwarted by Congress, which prohibited sending any prisoner to the US and imposed restrictions that brought releases to a halt.

Today, 143 detainees remain at Guantanamo Bay – about 100 fewer than when President Barack Obama took office and pledging to close the detention center, Associated Press reported.

Similarly, CNN stated that number compared to the facility's population height of more than 750 people after it began accepting post-9/11 prisoners.

Meanwhile three Guantanamo detainees were first transferred to Georgia in 2010.

The US Department of Defence noted that as directed by President Obama’s January 22, 2009 executive order, the three prisoners were sent by the inter-agency Guantanamo Review Task Force, after it conducted a comprehensive review of the inmates’ cases.

"As a result of that review, which examined a number of factors including security issues, these men were approved for transfer by consensus of the six departments and agencies comprising the task force,” they said.