[JURIST] The US Department of Defense (DOD) [official website] on Monday announced the transfer [press release] of two Guantanamo detainees to Senegal. Libyan nationals Salem Abdu Salam Ghereby, 55, and Omar Khalif Mohammed Abu Baker Mahjour, about 44, were released [AP report] after being held nearly 14 years without charges. Last week a US government official said that the DOD has told Congress that it plans to transfer [JURIST report] as many as 12 prisoners from Guantanamo in the coming weeks. With Monday’s transfers, 89 detainees remain at the facility.

In February US President Obama delivered a plan to Congress to close Guantanamo Bay [JURIST report]. In November the US Senate passed [JURIST report] the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (NDAA), which prohibits Guantanamo detainees from being transferred into the US. Obama signed the bill into law, despite the fact that it could delay his plan to close the prison. The DOD said [JURIST report] in October they were sending teams to review three Colorado prisons as part of Obama’s efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay prison in October. The Guantanamo Review Task Force was created in response to a 2009 presidential executive order to review the status of all detainees.