Five Gitmo Uighurs to Palau: Thanks, but No Thanks

Beijing opposes sending other Muslim inmates to Palau

(NEWSER) - Four Chinese Muslims inmates from Guantanamo have been released in Bermuda in the first successful US resettlement of Uighurs since 2006, the AP reports. The disposition of 13 others is unclear, according to the Miami Herald, but Palau has offered to accept them, a move China opposes. Beijing has called them “terrorist suspects” and demanded their return. Palau’s president classifies them as “international vagabonds” who deserve a fresh start. More»

Island nation's move resolves key camp-closing concern

(AP) - Palau agreed to accept 17 Chinese Muslims who have languished in legal limbo at Guantanamo Bay, indicating a resolution to one of the thorniest issues facing the Obama administration's decision to close the prison camp. The announcement, which would clear the last of the Uighurs from the camp, was a major step toward finding new homes for detainees who have been cleared of wrongdoing but cannot go home for fear of ill-treatment. More»

Latest transfers trade prison for ocean views

(AP) - Six Chinese Muslims newly released from Guantanamo Bay traded life behind bars today for rooms with ocean view in the tiny Pacific nation of Palau. The Uighurs, in US custody since 2001, were met at the airport in the middle of the night by President Johnson Toribiong and taken to their new home—a large house in the heart of Koror. "They appeared to be very happy," Toribiong told reporters. "They smiled, they thanked me, they called me brother. It's amazing. I feel really good about it." More»

'They're not monsters,' says island leader

(NEWSER) - That Palau's president was once a defense lawyer may explain why he risked upsetting his island's 20,000 residents and their peaceful isolation from the world to take in 13 former Guantanamo detainees. "They should be presumed innocent because no one has proven them guilty," newly elected Johnson Toribiong told the Los Angeles Times. "These people are not monsters.” More»

(NEWSER) - The US wants to resettle Uighur detainees held at Guantanamo Bay on the Pacific island nation of Palau, the AP reports. Palau, whose eight main islands lie 500 miles east of the Philippines, has strong ties to the US and depends on it for aid and protection. Daniel Fried, the envoy appointed by the Obama administration to administer the closing of Guantanamo, visited the country recently. More»