Court to weigh plea of Uighurs held at Gitmo

[unhappycamper]

Court to weigh plea of Uighurs held at Gitmo
By Joan Biskupic - USA Today
Posted : Tuesday Oct 20, 2009 15:29:34 EDT

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to hear an appeal by 13 remaining Chinese Muslims held without charges at the Guantanamo Bay naval base.

The justices’ move rebuffs the Obama administration’s request that the justices stay out of the Uighurs’ case and sets up a major test of power among the branches over detainee policy.

The dispute goes to the heart of federal judges’ authority to order Guantanamo detainees released into the United States. Obama administration lawyers argue that federal judges lack the authority to order the government to bring the Uighurs to the United States to be released “outside of the framework of the immigration laws.”

The Uighurs, members of a Muslim minority originally living in western China, had fled to Afghanistan and set up camps in the Tora Bora mountains. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorism attacks and U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, they were picked up by American forces and in 2002 sent to Guantanamo, the U.S.-run naval base located in Cuba.

The Uighurs were initially held as enemy combatants, but that status was lifted and they would be free to return to China if they did not fear torture and other persecution there. The Bush — then Obama — administrations have long been trying to resettle the men in other countries.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/10/ap_gitmo_uighurs_102009w/