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From Guantanamo to the United States
Antiwar.com Original —
... , but others were among the lucky 38 who were found to be "No Longer Enemy Combatants" after the CSRTs, and five of these men were finally released in May 2006, when Albania stepped forward as the only country in the world prepared to risk the wrath of China by giving the men a new home albeit one with no Uighur community, no work prospects, and no chance for them ever to be reunited with their families. While these men struggled to survive in Albania, the other Uighurs who were all eventually cleared for release after further review boards remained in severe isolation ...
Andy Worthington: From Guantanamo to the United States? Meet the Uighurs
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com —
... While these men struggled to survive in Albania, the other Uighurs -- who were all eventually cleared for release after further review boards -- remained in severe isolation in Guantanamo. Like the majority of other cleared prisoners from human rights-abusing regimes (including ...
How Guantanamo Can Be Closed: More Advice for Barack Obama
Antiwar.com Original —
... the return of foreign nationals to countries where they face the risk of torture. The second reason is that the administration's insistence that they are still "enemy combatants" (or are "no longer enemy combatants") has deterred other countries from accepting them. Even though State Department representatives have been touring the world for the last three years in an attempt to relocate some of these men, the only third country that has been prevailed upon to accept any of them is Albania , which took eight former prisoners in 2006. I am reliably informed that there are ...
The Top Ten Judges of 2008
the talking dog —
... ordered their release to human rights groups within the United States, cutting through the red tape that “legislation is needed” to enforce a remedy that the Supreme Court says is required by the Constitution. The government has appealed and obtained a stay from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. However, the government is not going to return them to China (where they would almost certainly be tortured and/or killed), and unless they join their fellow Uighur former detainees in Albania (who were sent there in May 2006), it is not clear where they will go, as the Bush ...
A Letter To Barack Obama From A Guantanamo Uighur
Antiwar.com Original —
... the hope of finding a way of rising up against their oppressors, which was unlikely, as the settlement was dirt-poor and had only one gun, or because they had hoped to travel to other countries in search of work primarily Turkey, which has historic connections to the people of East Turkestan (as the Uighurs call their homeland) but had been thwarted in their aims. In May 2006, five of the 22 were freed from Guantánamo, after being cleared in a military review, and sent to live in a refugee camp in Albania , the only country that could be persuaded to accept them after the ...
Free The Guantánamo Uighurs!
Commondreams.org Views —
... on this historic decision by ruling that, because the Uighurs' continued detention in Guantánamo was unconstitutional, because they were at risk of torture if returned to China, and because no other country had been found that was prepared to risk the wrath of the People's Republic by emulating Albania, which accepted five other Uighurs in 2006, they were to be moved to the United States, where communities in Washington D.C. and Tallahassee, Florida, had ...
Andy Worthington: From Guantanamo To The South Pacific: Is This A Joke?
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com —
... Confronted with the problem of rehousing five other Uighurs in 2006, the Bush administration secured, for an undisclosed sum, the cooperation of Albania (a Muslim nation, albeit a poor one, with no other Uighurs and little work), but that escape route was soon sealed off as the Albanians found themselves subjected to the wrath of the People's Republic. Since then -- despite hopeful murmurs from other countries, and the acceptance, in Sweden, of an asylum claim by one of the Uighurs sent to Albania, who made ...
From Guantánamo To The South Pacific: Is This A Joke?
Commondreams.org Views —
... in a petition intended to prevent the Supreme Court from reviewing the Uighurs' surreal and intolerable limbo. Confronted with the problem of rehousing five other Uighurs in 2006, the Bush administration secured, for an undisclosed sum, the cooperation of Albania (a Muslim nation, albeit a poor one, with no other Uighurs and little work), but that escape route was soon sealed off as the Albanians found themselves subjected to the wrath of the People's Republic. Since then - despite hopeful murmurs from other countries, and the acceptance, in Sweden, of an asylum claim by one ...
Andy Worthington: Who Are The Four Guantanamo Uighurs Sent To Bermuda?
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com —
... The lawyers also explained that the men will probably have an easier time adapting to their new life than the five other Uighurs who were rehoused in Albania in 2006. Unlike Albania, Bermuda is a wealthy country, and, in addition, the men "have been approved to participate in Bermuda's guest worker program for foreigners." ...
Who Are the Four Guantanamo Uighurs Sent to Bermuda?
Commondreams.org Views —
... Bermuda has reminded her old friend, America, what justice is." Susan Baker Manning, added, "These men should never have been at Guantánamo. 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. We are grateful to Bermuda for this humanitarian act." The lawyers also explained that the men will probably have an easier time adapting to their new life than the five other Uighurs who were rehoused in Albania in 2006. Unlike Albania, Bermuda is a wealthy country, and, in addition, the men ...
Access to Uighurs: No for US Congress, But OK for China
Commondreams.org Views —
... to investigate why the Bush administration had allowed Chinese interrogators to visit Guantánamo to interrogate the prison's 22 Uighur inmates in 2002. Although 13 of the Uighurs are still held at Guantánamo (five were released in Albania in 2006, and ...
Andy Worthington: House Threatens Obama Over Chinese Interrogation Of Uighurs In Guantanamo
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com —
... were focused relentlessly on the marathon endurance test that was Sonia Sotomayor's Supreme Court confirmation hearing, the House Foreign Affairs Committee's Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights And Oversight held a hearing to investigate why the Bush administration had allowed Chinese interrogators to visit Guantánamo to interrogate the prison's 22 Uighur inmates in 2002.
Although 13 of the Uighurs are still held at Guantánamo (five were released in Albania in 2006, and four in Bermuda last month), all of the men -- Muslims ...
Andy Worthington: A Plea To Barack Obama From The Guantanamo Uighurs
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com —
... The majority of these men were cleared for release from Guantánamo by military review boards between 2004 and 2006, although they remained at Guantánamo because it was unsafe to return them to China, and because no third country could be found that would accept them (after Albania risked the wrath of China by accepting five other Uighur prisoners in May 2006). ...
A Plea to Barack Obama From the Guantánamo Uighurs
Commondreams.org Views —
... who had fled their homeland because of Chinese persecution, and were sold to US forces by opportunistic Pakistani villagers during the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. The majority of these men were cleared for release from Guantánamo by military review boards between 2004 and 2006, although they remained at Guantánamo because it was unsafe to return them to China, and because no third country could be found that would accept them (after Albania risked the wrath of China by accepting five other Uighur prisoners in May 2006). After ...
Andy Worthington: Who Are The Six Uighurs Released From Guantanamo To Palau?
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com —
... I have also written about how five of the 22 Uighurs in Guantánamo were released in Albania in May 2006, and how the others had to wait another two years for a U.S. court to have the right to examine one of their cases, concluding that the government's supposed evidence ...
Who Are the Six Uighurs Released From Guantánamo to Palau?
Antiwar.com Original —
... to visit them, and tried, in their tribunals at Guant namo, to make out that they were connected to a Uighur separatist group, which obligingly had been designated by the Bush administration as a terrorist group to secure leverage with the Chinese government in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. I have also written about how five of the 22 Uighurs in Guant namo were released in Albania in May 2006, and how the others had to wait another two years for a U.S. court to have the right to examine one of their cases, concluding that the government’s supposed evidence ...
