Guantanamo inmates' Portugal move

Barack Obama has promised to close the camp by January 2010

Two Syrian nationals held at the US detention centre in Guantanamo Bay have been transferred to Portugal.

The two detainees from the Cuban facility, who arrived in Portugal on Friday, have not yet been named.

The US has asked European countries to accommodate former inmates who cannot return to their countries of origin because of the risk of persecution.

France, Germany and Italy are among some of the countries that have agreed to take them in.

The two Syrian detainees "are not subject to any charge, they are free people and are living in homes provided by [the] state," Portuguese officials were quoted as saying by AFP news agency.

US President Barack Obama has promised to close Guantanamo Bay facility by January 2010. It was opened by the Bush administration in 2002 to house suspected terrorists.

Although more than 540 detainees have departed Guantanamo for other countries, some 220 reportedly remain in the Cuban facility.