The U.S. government on Friday sent two Syrian men from the prison camps at Guantánamo to resettlement in Portugal after years as war on terror captives at the U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba.

The Justice Department in Washington announced the transfer late Friday in tandem with the Portuguese government in Lisbon, which said it granted the two men ``humanitarian asylum'' at the ``specific request'' of the U.S. government.

``These citizens, who expressed interest in being hosted by Portugal, are not subject to any charges,'' Portugal's Interior Ministry said in a statement.

It described the Syrians as ``free individuals now living in homes provided by the state, which is taking steps to integrate them into Portuguese society.''

Portugal's Interior Ministry also said that the two men were given visas that allowed them to live in Portugal but required further applications to travel elsewhere in the European Union.

Neither announcement named the men.

A U.S. Justice Department spokesman, Dean Boyd, said the two former captives' names were not being made public, by request of Portugal, ``for security and privacy reasons.''

The U.S. announcement said the release arrangements for both men were arranged under a review established by the Obama administration to downsize the detainee population ahead of the president's mandate to close the controversial prison camps in Cuba, by Jan. 22, 2010.

``The United States has coordinated with the government of Portugal to ensure the transfers take place under appropriate security measures and will continue to consult with the government of Portugal regarding these detainees,'' it added.

The transfer followed by less than one week the repatriation of a young Afghan captive, Mohammed Jawad, whose release was ordered by a judge.

It lowered the unofficial Guantánamo prison camp census to about 226 foreign men.

Portugal said in its statement that the government had long expressed ``its willingness to help President Barack Obama and the American administration find solutions to accommodate people who have been detained at Guantánamo.''

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@