TIMESONLINE: A few months ago Abdulghappar Turkistani wrote from his cell in Guantanamo Bay of his yearning to see the sun and feel the air.
Now a US federal judge has ruled that Turkistani, and 16 other Chinese Muslims held prisoner for seven years, must be set free and released into the United States from the naval facility in Cuba.
The decision drew delight from other Uighurs, from north-western China’s Xinjiang region, now living in the United States, swift condemnation from the administration and anger from China which regards them as members of a terrorist organisation bent on separatism.
In a stern rebuke of the US government, District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina said it would be wrong to continue holding the detainees since they no longer are considered enemy combatants. The must be released by Friday, he ruled.
He said: “I think the moment has arrived for the court to shine the light of constitutionality on the reasons for the detention.”
His words drew cheers and applause from local Uighur residents in Washington and from human rights activists packed into the US District courtroom.
The 17 Uighurs were officially declared no longer "enemy combatants" by the government earlier this year, but officials had maintained they could continue to hold the men at Guantanamo Bay if no other country accepted them. Only Albania has agreed to take the Uighurs, welcoming a group of five who were flown there from Guantanamo Bayin 2006 and who now live in refugee accommodation with no possibility of returning to their families any time soon.
The men had been left in limbo because of the dilemma of where they would go after their release. US Judge Orders Release of Chinese Muslims from Guantanamo Bay >>> Jane Macartney in Beijing | October 8, 2008
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