It’s abundantly clear our “catch and release” program has been an abysmal failure, and yet Obama is still determined to release the remaining Gitmo prisoners.

AMMAN — Authorities have detained nine members of the Jihadi Salafist movement, including a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, as part of a widening crackdown on the hardline movement, activists and security sources said on Sunday.

The arrests took place in the towns of Salt, Ruseifa and Amman between Wednesday and Saturday, according to security and Islamist sources.

Among those detained is Osama Abu Kabeer, an Islamic scholar in the hardline group who was previously detained at Guantanamo Bay for over three years by US forces for fighting alongside Islamist militants against international forces in Afghanistan.

Authorities referred Abu Kabeer to the State Security Court on Sunday for trial on unspecified charges, according to his defence attorney Mousa Abdullat.

Abu Kabeer was previously sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison for his alleged support for Islamist militants in Gaza.

Also among the detained is Abdullah Al Abed, a 27-year-old Ruseifa resident with alleged ties to Al Qaeda-linked Jabhat Al Nusra front in Syria.