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Former Guantanamo detainee travels to Argentina, calls for asylum for remaining detainees

Associated Press
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In this frame grab taken from Barricada TV, former Guantanamo detainee Abu Wa'el Dhiab, one of the Syrian refugees recently released from Guantanamo and now living in Uruguay speaks during an interview, in Buenos Aires Argentina, Wednesday Feb. 11, 2015. Dhiab said he was there to ask the the Argentine government to grant asylum to his former fellow inmates still being held at the U.S. prison facility in Cuba. (AP Photo/Barricada TV) (The Associated Press)

In this frame grab taken from Barricada TV, former Guantanamo detainee Abu Wa'el Dhiab, one of the Syrian refugees recently released from Guantanamo and now living in Uruguay speaks during an interview, in Buenos Aires Argentina, Wednesday Feb. 11, 2015. Dhiab said he was there to ask the the Argentine government to grant asylum to his former fellow inmates still being held at the U.S. prison facility in Cuba. (AP Photo/Barricada TV) (The Associated Press)

In this frame grab taken from Barricada TV, former Guantanamo detainee Abu Wa'el Dhiab, one of the Syrian refugees recently released from Guantanamo and now living in Uruguay speaks during an interview, in Buenos Aires Argentina, Wednesday Feb. 11, 2015. Dhiab said he was there to ask the the Argentine government to grant asylum to his former fellow inmates still being held at the U.S. prison facility in Cuba. (AP Photo/Barricada TV) (The Associated Press)

A former Guantanamo detainee who was resettled in Uruguay is asking Argentina to grant asylum for detainees still at the U.S. detention facility.

Abu Wa'el Dhiab wore a Guantanamo-style orange jumpsuit as he told Barricada TV that he believes "the Argentine government could receive the prisoners at Guantanamo here in a humanitarian way." Calls to the Foreign Ministry seeking comment were not returned.

The 19-minute interview in Argentina was published by several local websites on Thursday. During the interview, Dhiab recounts hunger strikes he participated in and criticizes the U.S. government for not closing Guantanamo.

The 46-year-old Syrian was one of six men who were released last year and resettled in Uruguay.