Transfer of Gitmo Detainees to Yemen Halted
The announcement comes after in the wake of revelations of ties between the Christmas day bombing attempt and terrorists in that country.
Special Report: The Christmas Day Terror Attack
The decision to halt transfers of detainees to Yemen comes as the Obama administration works to close the prison facility at Guantanamo Bay. There are currently 80 Yemenis left at the Guantanamo facility, almost half the remaining prison population.
The decision could mean some detainees that would have been transferred to Yemen instead end up at a prison in Illinois where federal officials hope to house some former detainees. Just last month, the Department of Justice announced that it had transferred six Yemeni detainees to the government of Yemen.
Yemen has emerged as a flashpoint in the wake of the Christmas Day bombing attempt, with California Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Republican lawmakers calling for an end to detainee transfers to the unstable country.
Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, the alleged Fort Hood shooter, exchanged e-mails with a radical Yemeni-American cleric. The accused murderer of an Army recruiter in Arkansas in June had spent time in the country. And the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Cole was stationed in Yemen when it was the target of a suicide attack in 2000.