US House allows transfer of Guantanamo prisoners for trials
By DPA, IANSThursday, October 15, 2009
WASHINGTON - The US House of Representatives voted Thursday to allow the transfer of Guantanamo Bay detainees to US soil but only to face trial.
The House voted 307-114 in favour of the measure included in the bill for the Homeland Security Department’s budget. The vote removes an obstacle to President Barack Obama’s plans for closing the controversial prison facility in Cuba.
The legislation still must be passed by the Senate before Obama can sign it into law.
Obama has set a deadline of Jan 22 for shuttering Guantanamo but is still facing key questions about what to do with the roughly 220 prisoners remaining there. He hasn’t ruled out relocated some of them to federal prisons.
But congressional Republicans and a large number of Democrats protested holding the detainees in the US indefinitely, arguing it would pose a threat to security.
