SOCOTRA, a small island in the Indian Ocean 400km (250 miles) south-east of Yemen’s mainland, is a picture of tranquility. Unspoiled beaches of snow-white sand are lapped by turquoise water home to leaping dolphins and coral reefs. Hundreds of unique species of flora and fauna lie along mountain trails. Its 55,000 inhabitants retain many of their ancestral traditions, and speak their own, unwritten language. But the island’s remoteness may be its curse, if rumours in the Yemeni press prove correct. The American administration has promised to close Guantánamo prison, the facility at the American naval base in Cuba where those captured in the “war on terror” are held for up to 12 years without trial. But it needs to find a place to move the inmates. Of the 155 current prisoners, 90 are Yemeni (so are 56 of the 77 “approved for transfer”).

America has a good security relationship with Yemen, where the two countries cooperate over American drone strikes against al-Qaeda groups in the south of the country. So it makes sense to move these prisoners to Yemeni soil. The idea of constructing a “rehabilitation facility” for released Yemeni detainees was acknowledged by the country’s foreign minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi in October. Soon after, the Los Angeles Times revealed that it would be a “detention facility” and that secret Yemeni-American talks were held in Rome last year. The White House refused to comment during a press conference a day after the revelations. Whether a rehabilitation or detention centre, Americans would monitor the place. That may be easier on an island rather than just outside the capital Sana'a, where the Los Angeles Times reckoned the prison would be situated. In November, Yemeni newspaper El Ule ran a story claiming that a “New Guantánamo” would be set up on Socotra. Its front-page illustration mixed the island’s native dragon's-blood tree (pictured above) and the orange uniform of Guantánamo inmates.