Court Likens Gitmo Case to Absurd Poem

Goverment seeks to reverse decision to free Chinese Muslims

(NEWSER) - An appeals court has blocked the release of 17 Chinese Muslim detainees at Guantanamo Bay after the Bush administration filed an emergency motion. A lower court had ruled that the men, members of the Uighur minority who have been imprisoned for 7 years, must be released. That decision also said that the detainees should be admitted to the United States, as they would likely face torture if they returned to China. More»

Brothers detained since 2001 to be resettled in Alpine region

(NEWSER) - Two Chinese Uighur brothers will soon be swapping Guantanamo Bay for the Swiss Alps. Switzerland officials have decided to accept the men for resettlement on humanitarian grounds. Authorities believe that Bahtiyar and Arkin Mahmud pose no security risk and should be able to find jobs in their new homes in Jura in northwestern Switzerland, the BBC reports. More»

Pres tells Fox's Major Garrett prison will close after Jan 2010

(NEWSER) - Guantanamo Bay prison won't close by the January deadline he set when he took office, President Obama admitted today, but he still hopes to shut it next year. Obama is "not disappointed" in missing the deadline, he says in a FoxNews interview airing this morning, since closing the facility is "technically hard" and people are understandably "fearful after a lot of years where they were told that Guantanamo was critical to keep terrorists out," the Washington Post reports. More»

(NEWSER) - The Chinese Muslims freed from Guantanamo last week had never heard of al-Qaeda before arriving in Cuba, one of them tells the Royal Gazette of Bermuda. "From what we have heard about them, they are an extremely radical group, with totally different ideals from ours," said Salahidin Abdulahad, who arrived in Bermuda last week with three other Uighurs. "We are a peace-loving people." More»

Plans abandoned after Uighur deals, congressional opposition

(NEWSER) - The administration has largely abandoned plans to allow Guantanano detainees cleared for release to settle in the US, the Washington Post reports. Plans to allow Uighur detainees who said their only enemy was the Chinese government to live in the US met firm opposition from Congress. Four Uighurs were sent to Bermuda yesterday, and Palau has agreed to take the 13 who remain. More»