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Uighur Guantanamo detainees agree to Palau relocation: report

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

[JURIST] Three Chinese Uighur Muslims held at Guantanamo Bay since 2001 have agreed to be relocated to Palau, their lawyers told the Associated Press Wednesday. The detainees have been cleared for transfer since District Judge Ricardo Urbina ordered their release from Guantanamo last October, but difficulties in finding an appropriate place to relocate them have impeded their release. The lawyer for two of the Uighurs, George Clarke, indicated that the three men may be relocated as early as October, but the spokesperson for Palau President Johnson Toribong, would not confirm the impending transfer. At the close of its 2008 session, the US Supreme Court still had not ruled on an appeal by the Uighurs still in captivity to gain their release. The appeal followed a decision by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to stay the release ordered by Urbina last October. Amid the legal wrangling over the Uighurs in the US, the Chinese government has repeatedly called for the detainees to be repatriated to China, a request the US has been reluctant to accommodate. Toribong offered to accept the Uighurs in June while four Uighurs were transferred to Bermuda that month. There are 13 Uighurs still at Guantanamo Bay.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on September 10, 2009 (boomark / email).