A strange kind of freedom Wrongly sent to Guantanamo, rejected by the world

Five ethnic Uighurs from northwest China suffered through four years in Guantanamo Bay only to be dumped by the U.S. in one of Europe's poorest nations, which now says they are unwelcome and must leave.

One country, China, has eagerly offered to take in the men - so it can prosecute them as pro-independence terrorists and, many believe, execute them.

Albania's decision to deny sanctuary to the Uighurs, who were apparently swept up by bounty hunters in Pakistan in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks and turned over to the U.S., isn't based on security fears. The Pentagon decided at least a year ago they weren't "enemy combatants" and pose no threat.

In an interview, Argita Totozani, Albania's National Commissioner for Refugees, said cultural reasons are behind her country's decision not to follow through on a U.S.-brokered deal to grant political asylum to the five.

"Their future is not here," she said. "There is not a Uighur community (here). They don't speak any Albanian ... There is no integration possibility for them here. We realized their future is not in Albania."

Now, U.S. government lawyers are casting around for another country, other than China, willing to take the Uighurs and, Totozani said, Canada is on the list.

"They are trying to find a resettlement somewhere else - in America or Canada," she said. "I've heard they have relatives in Canada. There is a good community in Canada for Uighurs."

The U.S., however, is apparently not an option.

A senior State Department official, who insisted on anonymity, said in an exchange of emails that it was an "administrative decision" to deny the men an opportunity to resettle in the U.S. and to instead reach out to more than 100 other countries.

"It was determined that the Uighurs would be resettled in another country. They expressed a preference for a European country," with the knowledge they couldn't go to America, the official said.

The administration of President George W. Bush has not publicly explained why the men cannot resettle in the United States, but the State Department has apparently told the Albanians.

"Because of the atmosphere and the Sept. 11 story, the Americans would not really want Guantanamo Bay ex-prisoners to be part of their society," Totozani said. "It's not that easy to persuade Americans about their innocence."

Sabin Willett, a Boston attorney who represents the Uighurs, says the administration wanted his clients out of the U.S. so it wouldn't have to defend its handling of the Guantanamo Bay prison in federal court.

He says his clients were abruptly put on a plane and flown to Albania on Friday, May 5 - the last business day before the Washington, D.C., Court of Appeals was to hear arguments over his clients' legal rights.

"They wanted to avoid a ruling by the court of appeals that might limit their heretofore unlimited discretion to do whatever they want with people in Guantanamo Bay," Willet said in a telephone interview. "I think they also wanted to avoid public and judicial scrutiny of the big lie of Guantanamo, which is that it is a terrorist detention facility."

But the State Department insists there was nothing untoward about the timing of the men's abrupt departure for one of the poorest countries in Europe.

"It was only in April 2006 that we reached an agreement with the government of Albania, and we did not want to hold the detainees any longer than necessary," the official said.

Washington has praised the Albanian government for taking in the Uighurs, and insists they would readily assimilate in the predominantly Muslim country because of their shared faith. But not one of Albania's 3.5 million citizens speaks the Uighurs' distinct language.

The majority of Muslims in Albania are Sunnis, whereas Uighurs - who hail from the Xinjiang area of northwest China which had a brief independence as East Turkestan before World War II - practise a moderate, Sufi-tinged form of Islam.

While the U.S. tries to find a home for the men, China has sent a delegation to Tirana to pressure the Albanians to return them. The group Human Rights in China accuses Beijing of religious and ethnic persecution of Uighurs, detaining, torturing and even killing peaceful activists while harassing ordinary practitioners. Washington is opposing China's efforts to get the men. Totozani said Albania is refusing China because it has the death penalty.

Even if Albania reverses its decision to expel the men, few would find it a victory to be welcomed into such a grim place. Fewer than 100 people have sought long-term resettlement here over the past 10 years according to Albanian and United Nations officials.

"Albania is a transit country," says UN refugee representative Hossein Kheradmand. "People don't come here for asylum because of the economic situation. They come from the east and try to cross Albania to get into Western Europe." The per capita annual income here is little more than $2,000 (U.S.)

So what do the Uighurs themselves think of the international squabble over their fate?

Nobody knows outside the refugee processing centre where they're being kept because Albanian officials have made it nearly impossible to interview them, even when arrangements are made in advance with their attorney.

Ali Rasha, the camp director refused to allow this journalist into the camp, insisting, "I don't have the authority." That claim was flatly rejected by Totozani, who says the director decides who comes and goes.

Rasha apparently had the authority to allow in a Chinese man, who freely walked out of the camp. He said he wasn't from the Chinese Embassy, insisting he was "a businessman" before marching off in a huff.

Bruce Konviser is a freelance reporter based in Prague.


Source: Toronto Star (Canada), Jun 13, 2006