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Four Uighur Guantanamo detainees transferred to Bermuda

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Four Uighurs held at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility have been released from US custody Thursday and transferred to Bermuda. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) reported that the four detainees had been cleared for release by the interagency Guantanamo Review Task Force and were transferred pursuant to an agreement with the government of Bermuda. Lawyers for the detainees, who had been held at Guantanamo for seven years, welcomed their transfer. Bingham McCutchen partner Susan Baker Manning said, "These men should never have been at Guantanamo. They were picked up by mistake. And when the U.S. government realized its mistake, it continued to imprison them merely because they are refugees." Thirteen Uighurs still remain in US custody at Guantanamo. The Uighurs' release was ordered by a US district court in October, but that decision was overturned in February by the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. They have appealed to the US Supreme Court. If the remaining Uighurs are transferred before the Court decides to hear their case, it will likely be dismissed as moot. On Wednesday, Palau President Johnson Toribiong said that his government had reached an agreement with the US to accept all 17 Uighur detainees. US officials said later that no final agreement had been reached. On Thursday, Torigiong said that the offer was motivated by human rights concerns and not by the Chinese government's reaction. Also Thursday, the Chinese government again demanded the repatriation of the Uighurs. The Chinese maintain that the Uighurs are members of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), a militant group that calls for separation from China and has been a US-designated terrorist group since 2002. The US has previously rejected China's calls to repatriate the Uighurs, citing fear of torture upon their return.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on June 11, 2009 (boomark / email).