Judge: Let Chinese Muslims from
Guantanamo into US
"How many times does the Bush administration
need to be told that detainees are entitled to essential
rights?"
by Hope Yen
Associated Press, October 7, 2008
go to original
See Article III.3
Suspension of Due Process
|
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May 2006 photo of five Chinese Uighur
Muslims released from the US-run Guantanamo
Bay prison camp the week before and settling
in Albania. Now there are 17 Uighurs being
released. Where will they go?
Source: Gent Shkallaku,
AFP / dailylife.com
|
WASHINGTON - A Federal Judge ordered the Bush administration
Tuesday to immediately free 17 Chinese Muslims from
Guantanamo Bay into the United States, rebuking the
government in a landmark decision that could set the
stage for the release of dozens other prisoners in
Cuba.
US District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina said it would
be wrong for the government to continue holding the
detainees, known as Uighurs (WEE'-gurz), who have
been jailed for nearly seven years, since they are
no longer considered enemy combatants. Over the objections
of government lawyers who called them a security risk,
Urbina ordered their release in Washington D.C. by
Friday.
"Because the Constitution prohibits indefinite
detentions without cause, the continued detention
is unlawful," Urbina said in a ruling that brought
cheers and applause from a standing-room only courtroom
filled with dozens of Uighurs and human rights activists.
He also ordered a hearing for next week to decide
where the Uighurs should be permanently settled. Until
then, members of the Uighur community in the D.C.
area have offered to take them in and will help care
for them.
Justice Department attorney John C. O'Quinn said
the government would consider whether to appeal the
decision. O'Quinn's request to delay the decision
pending a possible appeal was denied Tuesday by Urbina,
who said the detainees had waited long enough.
At issue is the scope of a federal judge's power to
order the release of a Guantanamo prisoner, who was
unlawfully detained by the U.S. but who cannot be
sent back to his homeland. The Uighurs, who are Turkic-speaking
Muslims in western China, have been cleared for release
from Guantanamo since 2004 and ordinarily they be
sent home.
But the Uighurs cannot be sent back to China where
they are considered terrorists and could be tortured,
and the Bush administration says no country is willing
to accept them. Albania accepted five Uighur detainees
in 2006 but has since balked on taking others due
partly to fears of repercussions with China.
Urbina's decision also has broader implications for
the future of the Guantanamo prison, which the Bush
administration has said it would like to shut down
after "working with other countries to take people
back under the right circumstances." A federal
judge is set later this month to hold hearings on
other Guantanamo prisoners challenging their detention
as so-called enemy combatants.
About 20 percent of about 250 detainees who remain
at the military prison fear torture or persecution
if they return to their home countries, according
to the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights,
raising similar questions as to where they should
go if other countries refuse to take them. The U.S.
has long maintained they should stay at Guantanamo.
"How many times does the Bush administration
need to be told that detainees are entitled to essential
rights? All the remaining detainees in Guantanamo
Bay must be either charged and tried or released immediately,"
said Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International
USA.
On Tuesday, the Bush administration argued a federal
judge did not have the power to order the release
of a foreign-born detainee into the U.S., saying would
undercut immigration laws that dictate how foreigners
are brought into the country. Until a country accepts
the Uighurs, they would stay in special housing that
includes TVs, air-conditioning and recreational activities
such as soccer, tennis and volleyball, government
attorneys said.
O'Quinn also said federal judges had no power to
order the detainees' release and should defer to the
executive branch, who he said would be in a better
position in light of the delicate relations with China.
In Beijing Tuesday, before Urbina's ruling, the government
demanded that all Uighurs held at Guantanamo be repatriated
to China.
"The court should be circumspect because of
the potential for interference with foreign relations,"
O'Quinn said.
Sabin Willett, an attorney for the Uighurs, countered:
"I've never heard anyone argue our relations
with other nations are a basis for holding someone."
The Uighurs have been at Guantanamo Bay, a naval
prison in Cuba, since the U.S. military took custody
of them in Pakistan and Afghanistan in 2001.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said
before Tuesday's court hearing that the Uighurs are
suspected of being members of the East Turkestan Islamic
Movement, which the United States lists as a terrorist
organization.
"China has urged the U.S. to repatriate these
Chinese terrorist suspects to China on many occasions.
We hope the U.S. will take our position seriously
and repatriate these persons to China sooner rather
than later," he said.
A spokesman at the Chinese Embassy in Washington
did not immediately respond to a request for comment
about Urbina's order.
Uighurs are from Xinjiang - an isolated region that
borders Afghanistan, Pakistan and six Central Asian
nations - and say they have been repressed by the
Chinese government. China has long said that insurgents
are leading an Islamic separatist movement in Xinjiang.
Rebia Kadeer, president of the World Uighur Congress,
called the decision a victory for oppressed Uighurs
in China.
"This is our destiny. This our people's win.
This concerns our freedom. China accuses us of being
terrorists, but we are not," she said through
a translator as other Uighurs in the courtroom cried
for joy.
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