[JURIST] Yemeni officials met with a visiting US delegation Thursday to discuss the possible transfer of Yemeni detainees still held at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive]. A major impediment to the negotiated release and repatriation of Yemeni detainees - who make up the largest single group of nationals at the prison - has been concern that they might be freed on their return to their home country, but AP quoted a senior official with Yemen's Ministry of Human Rights [official website] as saying that the US has been assured that any returned detainees suspected of terrorism will be prosecuted. There are currently close to 100 Yemeni detainees at Guantanamo, and talks concerning an agreement between the Yemeni and US governments on the return of the Yemeni prisoners have been ongoing. AP has more. Saba has local coverage.

In October 2007, US officials criticized [JURIST report] reports that the Yemeni government had released suspected USS Cole bomber Jamal al-Badawi [GlobalSecurity profile] after he turned himself in. In May 2007, a senior Yemeni official said that the country had agreed [JURIST report] to receive most Yemeni detainees being held at Guantanamo. In June 2006, Yemeni officials called for investigations into the Guantanamo suicides of three detainees [JURIST reports], including one Yemeni national, saying that the deaths exemplified the "inhumane conditions of detainees" at the US military prison.