U.S. sends last 3 Uighur prisoners to Slovakia


MIAMI — Three members of a persecuted ethnic minority from China have been released from Guantanamo Bay and sent to Slovakia in central Europe, officials said yesterday, resolving a diplomatic stalemate that had kept the men imprisoned long after a judge had ordered their release.

The three men were the last three ethnic Uighurs held at the U.S. base in Cuba, and their release after months of intense diplomatic efforts comes amid a renewed effort by President Barack Obama to close the prison.

Slovakia had accepted three other Guantanamo prisoners in 2009 and allowed the resettlement of the Uighurs after other countries refused because of pressure from the Chinese government, which has sought to take custody of the men.

“Slovakia deserves a lot of credit, because they were willing to do what large countries like the United States, Canada and Germany were unwilling to do, which was to resist diplomatic pressure from China and the stigma of Guantanamo,” said Wells Dixon, a lawyer with the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights who worked for years trying to secure the men’s release.

The Pentagon identified the men as Yusef Abbas, Saidullah Khalik and Hajiakbar Abdul Ghuper. All three are in their 30s and were captured in late 2001.

The men were among about two dozen Uighurs captured in the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack. They initially were detained as suspected allies of the Taliban.

In fact, the men had no affiliation with the Taliban and had come to Afghanistan after fleeing China, where Uighurs have long sought an independent homeland. Some were intensely pro-American and relieved when they were turned over to U.S. forces, thinking they had been saved, according to Dixon and other advocates.

U.S. authorities eventually agreed with that assessment and began trying to repatriate them. Several with citizenship in other countries were released, but 22 with Chinese citizenship could not be sent to China because under U.S. law they had a reasonable fear of persecution and torture.

Albania accepted five Uighurs in 2006 but refused to take more. As the diplomatic effort stalled, a federal judge ordered them released to the United States, but the transfer was halted amid opposition from Congress and the administration of President George W. Bush.