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Palau offers to accept Uighur Guantanamo detainees

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

[JURIST] Palau President Johnson Toribiong has said that his country is willing to accept 17 Uighur detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, according to a statement provided to the Associated Press Wednesday. A senior US official said later Wednesday that the US is still considering Palau's offer and that no final arrangement has yet been reached. Palau Ambassador to the US Hersey Kyota said that the agreement would contain US aid for Palau. The Constitution Project welcomed the possible agreement with Palau, saying it would "finally bring some modicum of justice for the 17 Uighurs 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, and the Uighurs remain in custody. They have appealed to the US Supreme Court. Last week, the Canadian government refused a US request to accept the Uighur detainees. In May, Republican leaders in the House of Representatives proposed a bill that, if passed, might block a proposed plan to accept up to seven Uighur detainees into the US after US Attorney General Eric Holder announced in March that the US would consider accepting all 17 detainees. The US government has determined that the Uighurs are not unlawful enemy combatants, but have been linked with 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 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 10, 2009 (boomark / email).