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

- - - - -

• 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.

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Comments (7 of 7)

Ar chuir éinne ceist orthusan?

by Duine

Wed Jan 25, 2006 15:03

Teacht go hÉirinn?

Tá an iomarca dífríochtaí aeráide, cultúir, teanga, bia, 7rl idir tír na n-Uigearach agus Éire. Molaim an Tuirc.

Uighur-GITMO update

Wed Jan 25, 2006 14:25

• Lawyers for Chinese Gitmo detainees to appeal directly to Supreme Court
- January 17, 2006
'Lawyers for a group of Chinese Uighur detainees being held by the US at Guantanamo Bay plan to ask the US Supreme Court to hear an appeal of last month's District Court ruling authorizing their continued detention. Lawyers plan to file a petition for certiorari, arguing that the Court should intervene before an appeals court hears the case because only the high court can resolve the case.'
http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2006/01/lawyers-for-chinese-gitmo-detainees-to.php

Background info:
• Unable to End 'Unlawful' Detention, Judge Says
- December 23, 2005
'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 .... [the judge] 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.'
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/22/AR2005122202118_pf.html

Also see:
• China exploits international ‘war on terror’ to repress Uighurs
http://web.amnesty.org/wire/August2004/China

. . .

related:
• Spanish court agrees to consider genocide complaint
filed against China by pro-Tibet group
- January 11, 2006
http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/37566.html

a Blogger explains the Uighur Catch-22

Wed Jan 04, 2006 23:21

Blog: 'The Common Room'
http://heartkeepercommonroom.blogspot.com/2005/08/uighurs-on-npr.html
[Text spelling and such cleaned up a bit...]

They have asked some 25 countries to consider taking them, but none of the countries are willing at this time. Switzerland says it cannot take them legally unless they have been legally declared as refugees.

Some countries want the UN's High Commission on Refugees to classify the Uighurs as refugees before they'll take them. The UNHCR says no, they don't have enough information about who they are and the circumstances of their capture to make that determination. The UNHCR says they have to go to Guantanamo and interview each Uighur individually before they can consider granting them refugee status. The US has refused to invite the UNHCR to Guantanamo because, basically, the UNHCR cannot go to Gitmo and interview the Uighurs on a fishing trip.

The US says the UNHCR must first must give the US some idea about whether they actually think there is any chance they could grant them refugee status and help with their relocation. The US says that there is no sense in the UN coming if it doesn't matter what the Uighurs say. The State Department doesn't want a promise, just a sense that yes, the UN might be able to help if conditions are right. The State Department says there is no sense in them going to Guantanamo if the UNHCR knows right now that it is not going to be able to classify them as refugees and help with the resettlement process.

'would not be repatriated to China for fear they would be executed.'

Wed Jan 04, 2006 22:42

'Since China took firm control of Xinjiang 50 years ago, immigrants from the overcrowded east have streamed into the region. Over the years, Uighurs have protested Chinese control numerous times, only to be defeated by crackdowns. Fang obtains footage smuggled out of China that shows Uighurs attacking a Chinese party headquarters in Hotan in 1995.

The Chinese have called Uighur dissidents Islamic terrorists. "There were about 20 Uighurs caught in Afghanistan, fighting alongside the Taliban," Fang says. "They have been held in Guantánamo for years." However, the United States is now prepared to release them, saying they pose no threat to America. But Secretary of State Powell announced that they would not be repatriated to China for fear they would be executed.'

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/china401/thestory.html

Video excerpt of the PBS documentary 'China: Silenced' about the Uighurs...
http://video.pbs.org:8080/ramgen/frontlineworld/china401ch2_hi.rm
[ realplayer required ]

US State Dept Answer: they have no 'physical presence in the United States'

Wed Jan 04, 2006 22:34

Office of the Spokesman
Washington, DC
October 28, 2004
Question Taken at Daily Briefing of Oct. 28, 2004

Uighurs at Guantanamo Bay

Question: Are the Chinese Uighur detainees in Guantanamo Bay eligible to seek asylum in the United States? If not, why?

Answer: The United States continues to explore all options regarding the resettlement of the Uighur detainees at Guantanamo. A prerequisite to seeking asylum in the United States is establishing physical presence in the United States. Further questions regarding asylum should be directed to the Department of Homeland Security.

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2004/37570.htm

-- -- --
Guantanamo Bay may not *technically* be in the United States, but it has been occupied by the US since 1898, during the Spanish-American War....

read:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guantanamo_Bay

Deutsche Welle: A Visit to Guantanamo

Wed Jan 04, 2006 21:30

Deutsche Welle:
'The US arrested some Chinese men, and now they'd like to get rid of them. Only, they don't know how. The men are ethnic Uighurs, a Muslim minority from China's far northwest which does brisk trade in the region bordering on Pakistan. They were picked up in the war against terror and brought to Guantanamo. The men pose no threat to the US. But they can't be deported, because China is afraid of Uighur separatists, and Guantanamo is a problematic point on a person's resume. "China would make organ donors out of them," said my escort. The Uighurs still live at Guantanamo.'
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1845420,00.html

'China would make organ donors out of them'

US Judge that wants Uighurs freed, resigned in protest from FISA Court

Mon Dec 26, 2005 13:56

'[U.S. District Judge James] Robertson, who had previously been publicly critical of the Uighurs' continuing detention, made headlines earlier this week in another context when he resigned from on the 11-member Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court after reportedly expressing concern about a program authorized by President Bush to conduct warrantless wiretaps on international communications by US residents with known links to al Qaeda or other terrorist organizations.'

read more with links at
http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2005/12/federal-judge-rules-chinese-gitmo.php

Read Robertson's memorandum ruling [PDF] and accompanying order [PDF]
http://www.dcd.uscourts.gov/opinions/2005/Robertson/2005-CV-0497~16:50:40~12-22-2005-a.pdf
http://www.dcd.uscourts.gov/opinions/2005/Robertson/2005-CV-0497~16:50:40~12-22-2005-b.pdf

. . . . .

FISA Spy Court Judge Quits In Protest

Two associates familiar with his decision said yesterday that Robertson privately expressed deep concern that the warrantless surveillance program authorized by the president in 2001 was legally questionable and may have tainted the FISA court's work.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/20/AR2005122000685.html

U.S. District Judge James Robertson

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Ireland Could Offer a Home to Two Uighurs

Comments (7 of 7)