Court Rules Chinese Muslims remain at Guantanamo

They are no longer considered dangerous, but they can't let them go.

Is it because they are Chinese, or because they are Muslim, or Chinese Muslims???

www.latimes.com...

Reporting from Washington -- The U.S. government may continue holding a group of 17 Chinese Muslims instead of releasing them in the United States, even though they are no longer considered dangerous, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday in reversing an earlier decision.

Last October, a trial judge ordered all 17 men freed in the Washington, D.C., area after he determined that the Bush administration had no legal right to continue holding them at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. They remained in custody pending the appeal.

But there is still hope..

The ruling "in no way limits the ability of the executive branch to release the Uighurs on its own," said Sharon Bradford Franklin, senior policy counsel for the Constitution Project, a legal advocacy group. "We therefore call on President Obama to choose the right course."

In other words; President Obama, you can let these detainees go if you want to!


[edit on 18-2-2009 by Walkswithfish]

They can let them go, but nobody knows where to send them. Many people, including the US govt, are afraid they will be tortured or 'disappear' if sent back to China.

The overturned ruling would have allowed them to live in the US, but now they are right back where they started.

Originally posted by Duzey
The overturned ruling would have allowed them to live in the US, but now they are right back where they started.

And how did they end up there in the first place?

So, we keep them there for their own safety, protected from the Chinese government?

Are they still subjected to torture while there?

Maybe they should hand them over to the Chinese... If bad things happen it will expose the Chinese government, and make them a new top target for radical Islamic terrorists.

reply to post by Walkswithfish


China is already a target due to their treatment of the Uirghurs.

If memory serves, the men claim they were in Afghanistan attending a training camp to learn to fight the Chinese govt. Their whole defense consisted of 'we love the US but China is evil and we want to learn how to kill them'. That puts the US in a bit of a tough position. Hand them over to their 'allies' who will surely punish them harshly, or try and find another country willing to take them which, with the amount of pressure the Chinese govt has been known to employ, has been very difficult.

Even if they did go back to China and disappeared, it would expose nothing. They would be put on trial and executed. The Chinese govt doesn't care what we think and Western govt's want to maintain good relations with them.

reply to post by Duzey


Thank you for that post... What a crazy situation... First they are Muslim terrorists, then detainees of the US government, now Chinese Muslims who face a dangerous future if released.

I wonder, if set free and they do disappear or are found murdered who is ultimately responsible?

reply to post by Duzey


Yep were sucking up to china, in a way thats true ,still are we just going to keep em' maybe give them S.S.I. ?

reply to post by Walkswithfish


Crazy is a good way to describe it.

You have a group of men who travelled to Afghanistan to learn how to kill people and then got captured by the US and sent to Guantanamo. After a few years, the US decides they aren't dangerous because they want to kill Chinese people, not Americans. Meanwhile, the Chinese call them terrorists and really who can blame them? These men were caught at a training camp and have openly said they went to learn to fight the Chinese.

Human rights being what they are in China, the US decides that they don't want to send these men back to be killed because terrorists aren't dangerous when they threaten govt's who might threaten their status of sole superpower in the future.

Yup, it's crazy all right.

In all seriousness, if they end up dead at the hands of the Chinese govt, the ultimate blame lies with themselves for going to Afhganistan to learn how to kill people.



reply to post by hosta420


I have no idea what the US should do with these men. I'm sure that given enough time, they will find a country who is willing to take them. In fact, I'm slighty concerned that it may be mine (after a change in govt) and I would not be in favour of that.



[edit on 18-2-2009 by Duzey]