2 Guantanamo Prisoners Sent Back To Algeria

Guantanamo Population Falls
In this photo reviewed by the U.S. military, dawn arrives at the now abandoned Camp X-Ray, which was used as the first detention facility for al-Qaida and Taliban militants who were captured after the Sept. 11 attacks at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2013. Detainees were housed in open air pens until the completion of Camp Delta in April 2002. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
In this photo reviewed by the U.S. military, dawn arrives at the now abandoned Camp X-Ray, which was used as the first detention facility for al-Qaida and Taliban militants who were captured after the Sept. 11 attacks at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2013. Detainees were housed in open air pens until the completion of Camp Delta in April 2002. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

MIAMI (AP) — The U.S. government says it has released two prisoners from Guantanamo Bay and sent them back to their native Algeria.

A Pentagon statement on Thursday identified the two men as Djamel Saiid Ali Ameziane and Bensayah Belkecem. They had been held at the U.S. base in Cuba for more than a decade on suspicion of having links to terrorism but neither had been charged with any crime.

Military and State Department officials portrayed the release as part of a renewed effort by President Barack Obama to close the prison amid opposition by Congress.

The releases bring the prison population to 162.

A lawyer for at least one of the men had urged that he not be sent back to Algeria, where he fears persecution and imprisonment.

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Inside Guantanamo's Prison Facility

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