Scene from the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay (file photo) (AFP)
April 20, 2006 -- The U.S. Defense Department has -- for the first time -- identified hundreds of detainees held at the U.S. military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
The list was posted on a Pentagon website in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by the Associated Press. The detainees were among the first swept up in the U.S. global war on terrorism for suspected links to Al-Qaeda or the Taliban.
The list contains the names, identification numbers, and nationalities of 558 detainees whose status as enemy combatants was reviewed by special military tribunals in 2004 and 2005. Many have been held at the U.S. prison for more than four years. Only a handful have faced formal charges.
In all, the detainees on the list came from 41 countries. The largest number -- 132 -- came from Saudi Arabia. Afghanistan followed with 125, then Yemen with 107.
(AP)