Seventeen Chinese Uighurs being held at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, asked to be released immediately now that President Barack Obama has ordered the prison camp there closed within a year. Lawyers for the Uighurs wrote the Justice and Defence Departments seeking the immediate release of their clients to the U.S., a step ordered in October by a federal judge. The Bush administration appealed that decision, while saying it no longer considers the men to be enemy combatants. China has requested the return of the Uighur detainees. The U.S. has appealed to other countries to accept them and other detainees because of fears they might be abused in their homelands. “By accepting the Uighurs, we would encourage other countries to accept the significant number of Guantanamo detainees who are cleared for release but who cannot be” sent back to their own countries, the lawyers wrote in their letter.
CHINESE DETAINEES AT GUANTANAMO PRISON
Seventeen Chinese Uighurs being held at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, asked to be released immediately now that President Barack Obama has ordered the prison camp there closed within a year.
