US 'wants' Germany to take Guantanamo Uigurs

[Kellanved]

BERLIN - The United States is pressing Germany to accept 15 Chinese Uigurs ready for release from Guantanamo in Cuba but who are unable to return home for fear of persecution, the newspaper Die Welt said in a story published Saturday.

Uigurs are a Turkic-speaking Muslim ethnic group with a large population in western China.

The 15 Uigurs have been held at Guantanamo since 2002, but Washington fears they could be tortured or abused if sent back to China and has been looking for another country to grant them sanctuary.

Germany was considered suitable because there is an Uigur exile community living in the southern state of Bavaria.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's government has so far ducked the issue, out of fear of offending China, which would regard such a move as an unfriendly act, the newspaper quoted diplomatic sources as saying.
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http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=52&story_id=29371&name=US+'wants'+Germany+to+take+Guantanamo+Uigurs

[nomo]

1. "Unable to return home for fear of persecution"

The 15 Uigurs have been held at Guantanamo since 2002, but Washington fears they could be tortured or abused if sent back to China

That's rich.

[primavera]

2. Absolutely, if the irony were any thicker, you could cut it with a knife!

What's going to happen to them in China that we haven't already done to them?

[Bacchus39]

3. so we might as well send them back right?

or not?

[FiveGoodMen]

4. Not send them back.

I think it was just a point about the pot and the kettle.

[primavera]

5. Thanks, yes, that was what I was trying to say n/t

[saigon68]

8. Let them come to California and pick lettuce

LOL

Or to Texas to swim the Rio Grande (Join the chinese olympic swim team)

[baby_mouse]

6. Pathetic showpiece.

Their concern moves me.

zzz...nt

...uh...to the bathroom...

[xchrom]

7. china would have no reservations about disclosing the torture

the u.s. has done to them.

germany won't.

[Robeson]

9. Nice observation, xchrom. I think you just hit the nail on the head....

...;-)