LONDON — When the U.S. government asked years ago that countries take in detainees freed from the Guantanamo Bay military prison, only tiny Albania answered the call.
The rest of Europe had long criticized the U.S. military detention center in Cuba and the Bush administration for opening it in January 2002 to hold so-called “enemy combatants” accused of having links to the al-Qaeda terror network or Afghanistan’s ousted Taliban regime.
Now Europe appears to be open to helping, as President-elect Barack Obama has pledged to close the prison. Most Europeans held in Guantanamo have been returned to their home countries, but U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has called for proposals for transferring the remaining 250 or so detainees — amid concerns that some could be persecuted if sent back to their home nations.
Most come from Yemen, but others are from Azerbaijan, Algeria, Afghanistan, Chad, China and Saudi Arabia. Some have been held without charge since the prison camp opened.
Portugal, France, Germany and Switzerland said they would consider taking in some of the remaining detainees.
The U.S. military had said it would prosecute about 70 prisoners in military tribunals, but fewer than 20 have been charged. It is unclear what would happen to them should the detention camp be shut down and the trials halted.
