• By
  • Evan Perez

The Obama administration lifted its secrecy Friday on the names of detainees at the prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who have been approved for transfer to other countries.

In a court filing in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, government lawyers said the names of detainees “no longer warrant protection.” They had been blocked from public disclosure under a 2009 court order requested by the government.

The filing includes 55 names out of the 167 detainees currently at the prison.

President Barack Obama on his second day in office issued an order to close the prison by January 2010 and set up a task force to review the status of prisoners there. The president’s plans soon ran into opposition from Congress, where lawmakers raised security concerns, and the target date wasn’t met.

The White House has accepted restrictions from Congress limiting the movement of prisoners to other countries or to facilities in the U.S.

However, it has continued to seek countries to accept prisoners who were identified by the task force as qualified for release.

In a court filing Friday, government lawyers said 28 prisoners have been sent to their home countries since 2009, while 40 prisoners have been moved to other countries.

Daniel Fried, the president’s special envoy, has led diplomatic efforts to find homes for the prisoners. The government said he was working behind the scenes for fear that publicity would hurt his ability to reach agreements with countries.

In explaining the decision to release the 55 names, government lawyers said Mr. Fried’s efforts “have largely been successful” and the “diplomatic and national security harms” from disclosure “are no longer as acute.”

The American Civil Liberties Union, which has advocated the closure of the Guantanamo prison, said it was time to release the 55 men. “These men have now spent three years in prison since our military and intelligence agencies all agreed they should be released,” said ACLU lawyer Zachary Katznelson.