Three Uighurs detained at Guantánamo Bay agree to Palau move

Barack Obama's plans to close Guantánamo Bay detention centre clears a major hurdle as China opposes move

Three Chinese Muslims detained at Guantánamo Bay formally accepted an offer to take up new lives in the Pacific island nation of Palau and could be moved there as early as next month, lawyers say.

They were the first among 13 ethnic Uighurs held at the US military prison in Cuba who had been offered resettlement in Palau — an arrangement that would clear a major hurdle to Barack Obama's plans to close the contentious facility.

Negotiations were still under way with the 10 other Uighurs at Guantánamo.

After months of talks with US officials, lawyer George Clarke said his two Uighur clients had recently formally accepted the offer to go to Palau.

"They're excited," Clarke said. "They want to get the heck out of Guantánamo Bay. They look forward to getting to Palau and getting on with their lives."

Eric Tirschwell, the lawyer for four other Uighurs at Guantánamo, said yesterday that one of his clients had also accepted the offer and was "looking forward to enjoying the freedom that he deserves and that he's been denied for almost eight years".

The 13 Uighurs, Turkic Muslims from far western China, have been held by the United States since being captured in Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2001. The Pentagon determined last year they were not "enemy combatants," but they have been in legal limbo ever since.

Beijing said today it considers the group suspected terrorists and wants them returned to China.

"We firmly oppose any countries receiving Chinese terrorist suspects. They should be repatriated to China as soon as possible," foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said.

But Uighur activists claim the group faces persecution or death if they are returned there, and US officials have struggled to find a country to take them in.

In June, four Uighur detainees were resettled in Bermuda. The same month, Palau offered to take the remaining 13 Uighur detainees at Guantánamo.

Negotiations have gone on since then, with officials saying some of the issues have included the detainees' fears about the tiny country's ability to protect them from China, and whether they would be able to freely practice their religion there.

The lawyers declined to give details of the agreements struck with US officials.

A US state department official, speaking on condition of anonymity because talks with other Uighurs were continuing, confirmed "some of the Uighur detainees have agreed to resettlement in Palau" but declined to give details.

Uighurs who accepted the offer could be transferred to Palau as soon as October, Clarke said.

Mark Bezner, the top American official in Palau, said yesterday he had not yet received formal notification on the Uighurs.

Palau is a developing country of 20,000 about 500 miles east of the Philippines that is dependent on US development funds.

The Uighurs will not be eligible for Palauan passports but the government has said the men would be free to travel so long as another country accepted them. It's not clear what passports they would have.

No Uighurs currently live in Palau, though there is a Muslim population of about 400 — mostly Bangladeshi migrant workers.

Isaac Soaladaob, chief of staff to Johnson Toribiong, Palau's president, said the government had not been informed yet of any formal agreements but the country was expecting the Uighur relocation plan to go ahead.

"We know that a number of men plan on coming and we are working on the technical aspects of their arrival," Soaladaob said.

Source: The Guardian.
Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/10/uighurs-guantanamo-bay-palau.