Ireland Could Offer a Home to Two Uighurs

international | anti-war / imperialism | other press Sunday December 25, 2005 02:35 by redjade

two ethnic Uighurs at the U.S. prison facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba need a home

Uighurs live in Xinjiang Province

Unable to End 'Unlawful' Detention, Judge Says
Washington Post
December 23, 2005; A04

A federal judge in Washington ruled yesterday that the continued detention of two ethnic Uighurs at the U.S. prison facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is "unlawful," but he decided he had no authority to order their release.

U.S. District Judge James Robertson criticized the government's detention of Abu Bakker Qassim and Adel Abdu Hakim, who have been jailed at Guantanamo for four years; they have been cleared for release because the government has determined they are not enemy combatants and are not a threat to the United States. But Robertson said his court has "no relief to offer" because the government has not found a country to accept the men and because he does not have authority to let them enter the United States.

Robertson wrote that the government has taken too long to arrange a release for the men, who cannot return to their Chinese homeland because they would likely be tortured or killed there. U.S. authorities have asked about two dozen countries to grant the men political asylum, but none has accepted, in part out of fear of angering China.

The Uighurs -- along with seven other detainees who have been found to be "no longer enemy combatants" -- are in Guantanamo's Camp Iguana, a less-restrictive area of the prison. They were cleared by a combatant status review tribunal about nine months ago, but no solution for their release has been reached. Robertson wrote that their situation is untenable.

read the rest at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/22/AR2005122202118_pf.html

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• Redjade Question: Can a TD please ask Bertie if Ireland is one of those 'two dozen countries'? If yes, why did Ireland not accept them? If the US didn't ask - perhaps Bertie can offer a hom to them in Ireland.