Lawyers: Uighur detainees at Guantanamo agree to go to Palau

Lawyers: Uighurs agree to go to Palau

KOROR, Palau — Three Chinese Muslims imprisoned for years at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay have agreed to be released to the tiny Pacific nation of Palau, their lawyers told The Associated Press.

The deals struck with U.S. officials this week are the first among a group of 13 Uighur detainees at Guantanamo who have been offered relocation to Palau under President Barack Obama’s plans to close the controversial prison in Cuba. Negotiations are continuing with the rest of the group.

Relocating the Uighurs would bring the Obama administration a step closer to its goal of finding new homes for terrorism suspects and others captured in Afghanistan who have been cleared of wrongdoing but cannot go home for fear of persecution.

But it has also raised tension with Beijing, which regards the inmates as terrorist suspects and wants them returned to China.

George Clarke, the lawyer for two of the Uighurs, Dawut Abdurehim and Anwar Assan, said they had both recently formally accepted Washington’s offer to relocate them to Palau. Eric Tirschwell, the lawyer for four other Uighurs at Guantanamo, said one of his clients had also accepted the offer.

“They’re excited,” Clarke told The Associated Press by telephone from Washington. “They want to get the heck out of Guantanamo Bay. They look forward to getting to Palau and getting on with their lives.”

A State Department official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity because talks with other Uighurs are continuing, confirmed “some of the Uighur detainees have agreed to resettlement in Palau” but declined to give details.

Uighurs who have accepted the relocation offer could be transferred to Palau as soon as October, Clarke said.

The 13 Uighurs (pronounced WEE’-gurs), Turkic Muslims from far western China, have been held by the United States since their capture in Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2001. The Pentagon determined last year they were not “enemy combatants,” but they have been in legal limbo ever since.