The Bush administration believes the 17 Chinese Muslim Uighurs detained at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp should not be released into the United States because they pose a "risk distinct to this nation," according to court documents obtained by AFP on Friday.
The potential risks, said the US Justice Department, were compounded by the fact "that petitioners were detained for six years by the country to which the district court has ordered them brought." A federal judge last week ordered that the group be released and brought before him in Washington - an historic ruling where, for the first time, a court ordered that "war on terror" prisoners detained at the US Navy-run prison in Cuba should be released onto US soil.
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia halted the process a day after the ruling, to give the US Justice Department time to prepare an appeal. "Most of these aliens were detained after attending or travelling to, terrorist training camps," read the US government's appeal of the ruling, filed late Thursday.
"The district court's order could also make it more difficult for the government to negotiate with third countries over resettlement." The group has been held in limbo at Guantanamo - despite being cleared of "enemy combatant" status in 2003 and cleared for release in 2004 by the US government - because officials cannot find a country willing to take them.
Comments
Comments are closed.