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Palau to accept Uighur detainees

The tropical Pacific island nation of Palau announced yesterday it will accept up to 17 Chinese Muslims who have languished in legal limbo at Guantanamo Bay despite a Pentagon determination that they are not “enemy combatants.”

China’s Foreign Ministry had no immediate reaction to the decision by Palau to grant Washington’s request to resettle the detainees from China’s Uighur minority who had been incarcerated at the US. Navy base in Cuba. Palau is one of a handful of countries that does not recognize China and maintains diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

Palauan President Johnson Toribiong said was accepting the detainees “as a humanitarian gesture” intended to help them restart their lives. His archipelago, with a population of about 20,000, will accept up to 17 of the detainees subject to periodic review, Toribiong said in a statement.

“This is but a small thing we can do to thank our best friend and ally for all it has done for Palau,” he said.

A former US trust territory in the Pacific, Palau has retained close ties with the US since independence in 1994.

While it is independent, it relies heavily on US aid and is dependent on the US for its defense. Native-born Palauans are allowed to enter the US without passports or visas.

The administration of US President Barack Obama sought a solution for the detainees after facing fierce congressional opposition to releasing them on US soil despite a Pentagon determination that they were not “enemy combatants.”

Palau, made up of eight main islands plus more than 250 islets, is best known for diving and tourism and is located some 800km east of the Philippines in the Pacific Ocean.

A federal judge last year ordered the Uighur detainees released into the US after the Pentagon determined they were not “enemy combatants.” But an appeals court halted the order, and they have been in legal limbo ever since.

Meanwhile, Ahmed Ghailani, who was an alleged aide to Osama bin Laden, suspected bomb maker, former prisoner of war is now the first Guantanamo detainee headed for trial in the US.

His military lawyers said on Tuesday that the government’s decision to bring him to a Manhattan federal court to face charges in a deadly strike against US embassies was a victory in itself.

“The rule of law is established here,” said Air Force Major Richard Reiter. “We’re not dealing with the due process issues that exist in Guantanamo. ... A fair prosecution that protects his rights is all we could ask for.”

In theory, Ghailani will now have broader access to the evidence against him and more avenues to challenge it by emphasizing the circumstances of his capture, detention and treatment over the years. He’ll also have regular access to his lawyers as he awaits trial in a jail that holds disgraced financier Bernard Madoff and the captured alleged Somali pirate Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse.

Ghailani, who is believed to be in his 30s, got his first taste of the justice system when he pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to participating in the al-Qaeda bombings that killed 224 people — including 12 Americans — at the embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998.

Ghailani has denied knowing that the TNT and oxygen tanks he delivered would be used to make a bomb. He also has denied buying a vehicle used in one of the attacks, saying he could not drive.

In related news, Obama’s plans to close the Guantanamo Bay prison has prompted politicians from across the country to declare their opposition to bringing any of the detainees to their constituencies. But there is a small poor town in Montana with welcoming arms open.

Hardin lies in the southeastern part of Montana known as Big Sky Country and is home to about 3,400 residents. Two years ago the city completed construction of a US$27 million prison, hoping it would create badly needed jobs and boost the local economy.

The facility built to hold 464 inmates has not seen a single prisoner since, mainly because of a dispute between Hardin and the Montana state government.

But Obama’s announcement to close Guantanamo within a year brought new hope. Hardin’s officials offered use of the prison for housing detainees remaining at Guantanamo until they could be transferred or tried.

So far, though, the offer has fallen on deaf ears. The city’s director of economic development, Greg Smith, said that Hardin has not heard back from the federal government.
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