Uighurs plight
June 10, 2009
Seema Saifee, a lawyer for the Uighur detainees, told Spiegel Online that their case had been put to the German government.
"Our clients implore the federal government to open the door of Germany for them and to persuade other European nations to give protection to many other stateless Guantanamo prisoners," Saifee said.
Germany's Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble made it clear last week that a decision could not be made because Germany regarded the information provided by the US State Department on the Uighurs as insufficient. The interior ministry has refused other applications from former Guantanamo inmates on national security grounds.
Saifee said the men had been “upset and disappointed” by the critical attitude of Germany's interior minister. “The Uighurs see Germany with the largest Uighur community in Europe as the best way to end their imprisonment for nearly a decade at Guantanmo Bay,” she said.
Pacific island temporarily takes in Uighurs
On Wednesday, the small Pacific island of Palau agreed to accept the Uighers on a temporary basis but its government made it clear that it could not grant them permanent asylum.
The detainees, part of a Turkic Muslim minority that has long faced persecution in China, were part of a group of 22 Uighurs living in a self-contained camp in Afghanistan when the US-led invasion was launched in October 2001 as part of a military campaign in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
When the bombings against the Taliban began, the Uighurs fled to the mountains, but they ended up in American hands after being turned over to Pakistani authorities, in some cases by bounty hunters.
The 17 Muslims from China's remote northwestern Xinjiang province were accused of having trained in al Qaeda camps and were transferred to the notorious US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, in southern Cuba.
Uighurs free after US court upholds innocence
They were briefly declared "enemy combatants" before the administration of former President George Bush withdrew its claims, as early as 2004 for most of the detainees. US federal courts later upheld their innocence.
The Defense Department and the State Department have tried unsuccessfully for several years to arrange the men's transfer to a third country, saying they face the risk of mistreatment if they return to China.
Beijing regards the Uighur detainees as "Chinese terrorists" and has cracked down on Uighur separatists.
In 2006, Albania took in five Uighurs from Guantanamo. But since then, no other country has stepped forward. US President Barack Obama's administration has asked Germany to take in some of the remaining inmates and is planning to release others in the United States, according to a US official.
nda, AFP/ap
Editor: Sonia Phalnikar