Uighur Detainees May Be Released to U.S.
In a potentially landmark legal decision, a federal judge may release the Uighur men being held in Guantanamo Bay into the U.S. From the Washington Post:
The men, a small band of Chinese Muslims who have been held for nearly seven years, are no longer considered enemy combatants by the U.S. government, but they are caught in a well-documented diplomatic bind. Unlike other captives, they cannot be sent to their home country because Beijing considers them terrorists, and they might be tortured. The government released five of the detainees, known as Uighurs (pronounced “WEE-gurz”), to Albania in 2006, but no other country wants to risk offending China by accepting the others.
The Uighurs’ attorneys argue that the men have been confined for too long on flimsy evidence and pose no security threat to the United States. The lawyers want them released into this country — most likely into the Washington area, where there is a Uighur community — suggesting that authorities could supervise them much as they monitor criminal defendants released pending trial. Later, the government could find the Uighurs another home, the lawyers say.
Read previous CDT coverage of this case.
