U.S. to transfer four Guantanamo Bay detainees to Saudi Arabia in final push

Reuters: The United States will transfer four detainees to Saudi Arabia from the Guantanamo prison in the next 24 hours, a U.S. official said on Wednesday, in President Barack Obama's final push to shrink the inmate population despite pressure from President-elect Donald Trump to halt such releases.

It will be the first in Obama's last flurry of transfers aimed at sending as many as 19 prisoners to at least four countries, including Italy, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, before Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20.

If the final transfers go according to plan, about 40 prisoners will remain at Guantanamo, marking Obama’s failure deliver on his longtime pledge to close the controversial facility at the U.S. naval base in Cuba.

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