If You Care About Freedom, Free the Gitmo 60

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»

(NEWSER) - Palau’s president Johnson Toribiong today said five of the 13 Uighurs held at Guantanamo Bay and set to be resettled in his country don't want to go, AFP reports. “A handful may not come,” he said. A recent delegation from the country to Gitmo met with just eight of the Chinese Muslims, who were cleared of wrongdoing four years ago. The other five refused interviews. More»

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»

(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»

(NEWSER) - The 17 Uighurs being held at Guantanamo issued a challenge to the Supreme Court today in petitioning for their release, the Miami Herald reports. "The historic role of the Judicial Branch is to demand the release of prisoners precisely when the political branches find release inconvenient," their petition reads. A district court judge ordered the men—Chinese Muslims deemed terrorists by their own country and apprehended in Afghanistan in 2001—released 8 months ago. More»