FREE, SORT OF

Gitmo Inmates Released to Algeria

They protested repatriation fearing reprisals.

Two Guantanamo Bay detainees were repatriated to Algeria on Thursday, a sign of the Obama administration’s intensifying efforts to close the controversial detention center. The two detainees strongly protested the move, fearing they would be persecuted on their return; their lawyers and human rights groups also attacked it, saying the men could have been released in Montreal or Luxembourg, where they used to live. On Wednesday, another detainee was repatriated to Saudi Arabia, reducing the count to 162. “President Obama remains deeply determined to close the detention facility at Guantánamo,” said national security adviser Susan Rice. “We expect to announce more transfers in the near future.”