Biden Seeks 'Ultimately Closing' Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, 10 Inmates Proposed for Transfer

President Joe Biden's administration announced on Monday that it still wants to close the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. So far, it has recommended 10 inmates for transfer, roughly a quarter of the remaining 39 prisoners left in the facility.

Senior U.S. administration officials confirmed the news in a press call that Abdullatif Nasser had been transferred to his home country of Morocco after having been detained 19 years without charge at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

A leaked Pentagon memo from October 2008 alleged that he had been "in search of the perfect Islamic society" and traveled to Sudan and Afghanistan, where he was said to have been trained by Al-Qaeda as an explosives expert.

The controversy around the Guantanamo Bay detention facility has led to national and international outcries over the accuracy of the intelligence used to imprison inmates and the interrogation methods used to extract information from them.

Former President Barack Obama announced a plan to close the camp in 2016, the final years of his presidency, but Donald Trump reversed the measure, vowing to keep it open.

Biden, who served as vice president under Obama, has since promised to revamp efforts to shutter the prison. One of the senior administration officials on Monday's call reiterated that intention in the wake of Nasser's "responsible transfer."

"The Biden administration remains dedicated to a deliberate and thorough process focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population, and ultimately closing of their Guantanamo facility," the official said.

A second senior administration official then gave a breakdown of the remaining inmates.

"Following this transfer today there are 39 detainees at Guantanamo Bay, 10 are eligible for transfer, 17 are eligible for periodic review boards, 10 are involved in the military commission process, and two detainees have been convicted," the second official said.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price also discussed the administration's approach in a statement commending Morocco's decision to accept Nasser and encouraging other states to do the same.

"The Administration is dedicated to following a deliberate and thorough process focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population of the Guantanamo facility while also safeguarding the security of the United States and its allies," Price said.

Cuba remains officially opposed to the U.S. military presence in Guantanamo Bay, a territory leased to Washington in 1903 by Havana at a time when the island was under U.S. control after the Spanish-American War. A series of pro-U.S. Cuban administrations continued the agreement until its final successor, Fulgencio Batista, was ultimately overthrown by Fidel Castro and his revolutionaries.

The Cuban Communist Party founded by Castro remains in power today, and is subject to a strict decades-long U.S. embargo. Obama sought to roll back this measure, but this too was reversed by Trump, who in January declared Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism.

Biden has continued the embargo and left the economic sanctions in place, but has offered verbal support for historic protests that have rocked the island in response to what has been described as a lack of COVID-19 vaccines and other essential goods.

This is a developing news story. More information will be added as it becomes available.