SPECIL ENVOY FRIED BRIEFS PSC ON GUANTANAMO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 001288 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/21/201 TAGS: PREL PINR PTER EUN SUBJECT: SPECIL ENVOY FRIED BRIEFS PSC ON GUANTANAMO CLOSURE Classified By: CLASSIFIED BY USEU MCOUNSELOR CHRISTOPHER DAVIS, FOR REA SONS 1.4 (B) AND (D) ¶1. (C) Summary: Through assembled PSC representatives, Special Envoy for Guantanamo Closure Dan Fried expressed gratitude for EU and Member State cooperation in resettling Guantanamo detainees. He updated the PSC ambassadors on precise numbers transferred or poised for resettlement, and he urged that Europe do more, noting UNHCR support for the process. Resettling the large Yemeni contingent is particularly challenging, he said. While Congress is blocking resettlement of former detainees in the U.S., SE Fried informed the PSC that ongoing DOJ and interagency reviews should determine which detainees are subject to statutory-based prosecution in U.S. federal courts or in reformed military tribunals. SE Fried described the &iterative8 process involved when the file of an approved detainee is discussed with governments of potential host countries. He alerted the ambassadors that there would be requests for military overflight and/or landing clearances for former detainees to be transported to host countries. European capitals are evidently eager to follow progress toward closure and receptive to further encouragement to help. End Summary ¶2. (C) The day after Hungary announced it would resettle a Guantanamo detainee, more than 20 EU Political and Security Committee (PSC) Ambassadors or their designees met with Special Envoy for Guantanamo Closure Daniel Fried at USEU September 17 as he came in from Budapest. S/E Fried reiterated the USG,s appreciation for the June 15 Joint EU-U.S. Statement that provided an EU &umbrella8 or framework supporting Member States, bilateral consultations with the U.S. on accepting for resettlement detainees who, because of post-transfer treatment or other concerns, could not be returned to their home countries. S/E Fried expressed the USG,s gratitude for those European countries that had already received detainees, or had committed to or had expressed an interest in accepting them. He stressed, however, that more needed to be done. ¶3. (C) According to the Special Envoy, of the 226 detainees in Guantanamo, so far three former detainees have been resettled in Europe ) one in France and two in Portugal ) with another four (Uighurs) resettled in Bermuda. In addition, the USG has agreements in principle with six EU Member States that will result in the resettlement of 10-12 more detainees and &softer8 agreements with several other European countries. Promising consultations continue with several other Member States and with countries in other regions. ¶4. (C) In anticipation of the PSC ambassadors, questions, Special Envoy Fried stated that the U.S. Congress has not made it possible for the U.S. to accept any of the detainees for resettlement. He noted at the same time that the detainee files were still being reviewed by Department of Justice senior prosecutors and an interagency panel to determine which detainees could be charged and tried in the U.S. Federal Courts, and whether there were others who might be tried in a reformed version of U.S. military commissions. Ongoing detainee file and evidentiary reviews make it difficult to specify the total number of candidates for criminal prosecution in either the preferred federal court or in the military tribunal setting. He `ning pre-supposes movin based by unilateral preside (C) S/E Fried confirmsed in the GuantanamQhe resettlement of a core Yemeni detainees who cannot currently be repQtriated due to the existing security situation Qn Yemen. The Saudis have a proven resettleme.t program and it had been hoped that their rogram might absorb some of this core group. However, the Saudi requirement that candidates have a local support group ) family or other ) makes the use of the program for a large number of Yemenis a difficult proposition. Attedees expressed understanding of the reasoningon Yemen, explaining that the EU had become icreasingly preoccupied with events there in rec%nt months. ¶6. (C) In response to several uestions, and in order to give the PSC group a sense of the process for resettlement, S/E Fried described a typical file of a detainee candidate approved for transfer. These individuals were not terrorist organizers and not the &worst of the worst(8 as others might have mistakenly labeled them, and those that are in that category would not be approved for transfer. The Special Envoy also described a typical negotiation with a Member State in which the U.S. shared several likely candidate detainee files for review and then received, in BRUSSELS 00001288 002 OF 002 turn, any comments or concerns, after which additional files would be offered and further specifications gleaned in a back-and-forth &iterative8 process toward the hoped-for selection. He highlighted that UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner Erika Feller had written a letter (in May) in support of the Guantanamo process for closure and resettlement of those detainees who could not be returned to their home countries. In addition, S/E Fried signaled a forthcoming U.S. request for relevant Member States to grant air rights or transit permission for U.S. military flights that would be delivering the selected detainees to their resettlement location. ¶7. (C) In response to questions, S/E Fried assured the PSC ambassadors, for example, that the passage of time did not necessarily reduce the pool of remaining detainees to the relatively unsavory. Instead, as he noted, the process of reviewing the files and judicial determinations in U.S. habeas corpus cases should continue to produce potential detainees for resettlement, depending on potential host governments, considerations. The least unsavory ) the Uighurs, who were identified early on ) he noted, still carry with them the threat of a sharp diplomatic response from Beijing for any country taking them. To another question, S/E Fried acknowledged that continued success in transferring former detainees might positively influence the political debate on resettling some detainees in the U.S. When asked, the S/E could not state with any certainty whether after convictions a U.S. court would take into account the length of time the defendant (former detainee) had spent at Guantanamo and could not now predict what would happen after such a defendant had completed his prison term in the U.S. ¶8. (C) Comment: Such high attendance by the PSC ambassadors, on very short notice, illustrates the degree to which EU Member States want to keep tabs on the progress toward closing the Guantanamo detention center. The PSC also received the message, no doubt reported to their capitals, that Europe still has a role in making closure happen. End Comment ¶9. (C) S/E Fried has cleared this cable. Murray .