Behind coils of razor wire at Guan-tanamo Bay, Cuba, one group of prisoners held by the US military faces a unique dilemma -- if returned to China, human rights groups warn, they could be tortured or killed.
Some 22 ethnic Uighurs, Muslims from China's desert northwest, are at the US prison for terror suspects, Amnesty International said this week.
"They're at grave risk if returned," Alistair Hodgett, a spokes-man for the London-based rights group said on Friday. "They are highly likely to face, at a minimum, continued detention, and very likely to face torture, ill treatment and possible execution."
Amnesty also accused China of sending a delegation in September 2002 that participated in interrogations in which Uighurs were subjected to threats and "stress and duress" techniques such as sleep deprivation, forced sitting for hours and "environmental manipulation" -- which can include extreme heat or cold.
In Beijing, the Chinese government on Thursday called the claims "totally groundless."
The US military also denies abuse during interrogations of the 600 prisoners from about 40 countries at its Navy base in Cuba.
"We don't engage in sleep deprivation or physical abuse," said spokesman Lieutenant-Commander Robert Mulac.
Amnesty International said it had confirmed reports that many Uighurs were in a medium-security prison wing reserved for the most "cooperative" detainees deemed not to threaten US interests and most likely to be freed.
Human rights groups say Uighurs, particularly those who advocate independence for their northwest territory of Xinjiang, face repression from Chinese authorities who call them terrorists.
China claims it is fighting an Islamic movement linked to al-Qaeda terrorist network, but diplomats say they doubt that. There has been no major separatist violence in recent years, but Hodgett said they have frequent reports of beatings, torture and executions of alleged Uighur separatists.
Hodgett said it is believed the Uighur detainees were captured during the US war in Afghanistan.
"We're very concerned," Mickey Spiegel of New York-based Human Rights Watch said of the fate of Uighur detainees. "Any kind of forcible repatriation as far as we're concerned is very much out of the question ... The US has a responsibility to see that these people are not returned to China."
Before a prisoner is returned home, the US State Department makes recommendations and confers with the home government, Pentagon spokeswoman Lieutenant-Commander Barbara Burfeind said. Asked whether possible persecution would be a factor, she said, "that would probably be something that would be part of those discussions."
Human rights groups suggest any freed Uighurs be granted asylum in another country, but Spiegel asked which would accept people once branded terrorists.
"We see it as a dilemma," she said. "What country is going to be willing to take them?"
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