“Most of the 48 detainees were cleared in 2009 yet are still stuck there – and the question is why. It’s maddening that the administration constantly talks about the ‘irreducible’ number of Guantánamo detainees when it takes such slow steps to reduce the numbers itself,” Kebriaei said.

CCR is the only body of lawyers which represents all three main categories of Guantánamo detainees – those cleared for release, those awaiting review by the intelligence services, and the “high-value” detainees charged by military commissions.

Even more baffling from the point of view of the defense lawyers are the cases of 38 detainees who are trapped in a form of legal limbo within the legal limbo that is Guantánamo. In March 2011, Obama made one of his many promises to push for closing the prison when he announced the creation of a new system to process the inmates called Periodic Review Boards (PRBs).

All 38 detainees have never been charged and have been deemed PRB eligible – that is they are entitled to take the first tentative step towards getting out of Guantánamo. Yet in none of their cases has the Obama administration even begun the process.