Uruguay
The entrance to the Military Hospital in Montevideo on December 8, 2014 from where six Guantanamo inmates transferred to Uruguay are expected to leave in freedom after more than a decade in what one called the 'black hole' of the US military prison. The men, who arrived in Uruguay early Sunday on refugee status after 12 years of detention without charge, underwent medical exams on arrival. Getty Images

After serving over a decade in detention, six former Guantanamo Bay inmates who were transferred to Uruguay remain hospitalized following a gruelling 12-hour flight, where they were kept handcuffed and blindfolded.

They handcuff them, they still have the blindfolds on and the ear defenders on, and there's not really a proper seat, so right up until the last moment I'm afraid the attitude of the Defense Department is not that these people are cleared to be free.
- Cori Crider, lawyer

Uruguayan defense minister had earlier said that the men would be discharged "in a matter of hours", however despite their arrival for over two days since Sunday, the inmates continue to undergo medical examination at a military hospital, reported France24.

The inmates were taken in by Uruguay on "humanitarian grounds" as refugees, however authorities have revealed that the men will be kept under tight security after leaving for an undisclosed location in the interior of the country.

Cori Crider, the lawyer for one of the men has expressed her disappointment at the way the inmates were kept handcuffed and blindfolded throughout the more than 12-hour flight to Uruguay.

Cori Crider
Cori Crider, lawyer of the Syrian national recently freed from Guantanamo prison, speaks to the press outside of the Military Hospital in Montevideo on December 8, 2014. Getty Images

Crider who is in Uruguay following the transfer of the inmates said: "It upsets me as an American citizen, but I'm afraid they take people out of Guantanamo in a way that is almost as degrading as the way they take them in.

"They handcuff them, they still have the blindfolds on and the ear defenders on, and there's not really a proper seat, so right up until the last moment I'm afraid the attitude of the Defense Department is not that these people are cleared to be free."

Crider has said that some of the inmates might need "intensive care".

Another lawyer, Alka Pradhan, said her client needs a wheelchair following the "horrible treatment" in detention.

The inmates, include four Syrians, a Palestinian and a Tunisian, who were all detained as part of the US "War on Terror" in 2002 for alleged links to al-Qaeda, however none of them were charged or tried.

The news comes as the US has released the CIA torture report outlining the "enhanced interrogation techniques" used on detainees, including rectal feeding and confinement with insects, that brought no useful intelligence information.

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