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Starting in 2002, the American government detained 22 Uyghurs in the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp. The last 3 Uyghur detainees, Yusef Abbas, Hajiakbar Abdulghupur and Saidullah Khali, were released from Guantanamo on December 29, 2013, and later transferred to Slovakia.[1][2][3][4]
Uyghurs are an ethnic group from Central Asia, native to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Western China.[5] Since the People's Republic of China gained control of Xinjiang in 1949, Uyghurs have led a series of rebellions and uprisings against the Chinese, gaining intense coverage in the 90s[6] and early 2000s, culminating in a series of protests, demonstrations, and terrorist attacks. Uyghurs have also frequently called for the international recognition of their own state through the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, which the United States used to recognize as a terrorist group.[7]
The Washington Post reported on August 24, 2005, that fifteen Uyghurs had been determined to be "No longer enemy combatants" (NLECs).[8] The Post reported that detainees who had been classified as NLEC were, not only still being incarcerated, but one was shackled to the floor for reasons not disclosed by his attorney. Five of these Uyghurs, who had filed for writs of habeas corpus, were transported to Albania on May 5, 2006, just prior to a scheduled judicial review of their petitions. The other seventeen obtained writs of habeas corpus in 2008.
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Lara Setrakian (2006-05-23). "EXCLUSIVE: Guantanamo's Innocents: Newly Released Prisoners Struggle to Find a Home". ABC News. Archived from the original on 2010-11-07. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
Their story may be the strangest one you'll hear out of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Even after being cleared of any wrongdoing, five innocent men were kept captive at the detention center at Guantanamo.
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Bill Delahunt, Sabin Willett (2009-04-01). "Innocent detainees need a home". Boston Globe. Archived from the original on 2009-04-05. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
Despite the Uighurs' innocence, they have remained in custody. The Uighurs will face almost certain torture if they are returned to China. While Albania previously resettled five men, as many as 100 countries have refused to accept the remaining Uighur detainees in the face of Chinese opposition.
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"Freed Uighurs relish Bermuda's sun and sand". NBC News. 2009-06-14. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
U.S. officials eventually declared the Uighurs innocent of any wrongdoing and authorized their release, but they couldn't be sent back to China because U.S. law forbids deporting someone to a country where they are likely to face torture or persecution.
- ^ Savage, Charlie (2013-12-31). "U.S. Frees Last of the Chinese Uighur Detainees From Guantánamo Bay". New York Times. Retrieved 2015-08-04.
- ^ Adam Wolfe (November 4, 2004). "China's Uighurs trapped at Guantanamo". Asia Times. Archived from the original on 2008-05-16. Retrieved March 5, 2021.
- ^ Cockerell, Isobel (2020-03-11). "China's oppression of Xinjiang's Uyghurs: a visual history". Coda Story. Retrieved 2022-12-28.
- ^ "Conceptualising Uyghur Separatism in Chinese Nationalism". ciaotest.cc.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2022-12-28.
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Robin Wright (2005-08-24). "Chinese Detainees Are Men Without a Country: 15 Muslims, Cleared of Terrorism Charges, Remain at Guantanamo With Nowhere to Go". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2010-10-24. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
In late 2003, the Pentagon quietly decided that 15 Chinese Muslims detained at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, could be released.