Tunisia in talks to repatriate its nationals from Guantanamo

TUNIS, Sept 11, 2012 (AFP)

A Tunisian minister held talks Tuesday with a US envoy about repatriating Tunisian nationals from the US detention centre in Guantanamo Bay, the foreign ministry said.

Hedi Ben Abbes, a secretary of state with the foreign ministry, discussed how to bring the last Tunisian prisoners home with special envoy Daniel Fried, the US diplomat overseeing moves to close down the facility.

Last July, Ben Abbes visited Guantanamo to meet the last five Tunisians being held there.

Two prisoners released in 2007, were tortured on their return to Tunisia, according to international organisations who have opposed their repatriation.

But the situation has changed with the overthrow of Tunisian dictator Zine el Abidine Ben Ali last year and the return to democracy.

The change of regime has opened the way for a return home for the remaining Tunisian prisoners, many of whom have been held at Guantanamo for years.

Former Guantanamo prisoners may benefit from the general amnesty declared after the fall of Ben Ali in January last year.