Six More Uyghurs Freed
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Another cohort of Uyghur detainees is freed from Guantanamo to a Pacific island.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 31, 2009-Six Uyghur men held for seven years in U.S. military custody at Guantanamo Bay have been released and have now reached the tiny Pacific island of Palau, authoritative sources have told Radio Free Asia (RFA).
The men were identified as Adel Nury, 40; Ahmed Tursun, 38; Abdulghappar Abdulrahman, 36; Anwar Hasan, 35; Edhem Mohammed, 31; and Dawud Abdulrehim, 35.
They landed in the early hours of Sunday after a 17-hour direct military flight, along with three U.S. lawyers, Rushan Abbas, a longtime translator for the Uyghur detainees at Guantanamo Bay, said in a telephone interview, citing contacts with the men and their lawyers.
A new Uyghur translator was flown in from Australia and was to remain indefinitely, she said in an interview.
No comment was immediately available from the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama.
They were among a larger group of 22 ethnic Uyghurs captured in Pakistan and Afghanistan and sold for bounty to U.S. forces after fleeing the mountains in the wake of U.S.-led raids, following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
They say they were living as refugees in Afghanistan, having faced religious persecution in China
Four were transferred to Bermuda in June 2009 while five others were resettled in Albania in 2006. One man in that group has since resettled in Sweden.
Seven men left
The transfer of these six men leaves seven in U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay, who say they cannot return to China for fear of persecution.
The United States maintained that the men had attended terror-training camps, and they were flown to Guantanamo Bay in June 2002.
The Republic of Palau is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, some 500 miles (800 kms) east of the Philippines and 2,000 miles (3,200 kms) south of Tokyo.
After a series of military tribunals and courtroom battles, they were cleared of links to global terrorism-but most governments refused to take them in for fear of angering Beijing, which regards them as terrorists.
The U.S. Supreme Court this month agreed to review the cases of all remaining Uyghur prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.
The group was originally ordered released into the States in October last year by U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina here.
But his decision was overturned after an appeals court ruled that District Court judges don't have the authority to order the transfer of foreigners into the U.S.; only Congress and the executive branch do.
Uyghurs in China
Millions of Uyghurs-a distinct, Turkic minority who are predominantly Muslim-populate Central Asia and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of northwestern China.
Ethnic tensions between Uyghurs and majority Han Chinese settlers have simmered for years, and they erupted in rioting in July that left some 200 people dead, according to the government's tally.
The six men may have difficulty reaching their relatives in the XUAR because Chinese authorities have imposed a telephone and Internet blackout over the whole region in an apparent bid to avoid further ethnic violence.
Twelve people have since been sentenced to death in connection with the violence, which was the worst the country has experienced in decades.
Uyghurs say they have long suffered ethnic discrimination, oppressive religious controls, and continued poverty and joblessness despite China's ambitious plans to develop its vast northwestern frontier.
Chinese authorities blame Uyghur separatists for a series of deadly attacks in recent years and accuse one group in particular of maintaining links to the al-Qaeda terrorist network.
Original reporting by Radio Free Asia.
Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news, information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA's broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to "seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors.
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Sarah Jackson-Han News Director, English Radio Free Asia jacksonhans(a)rfa.org 202 907 4613
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Taiwan Offers Unification Model: Ex-Party Aide
HONG KONG, Oct. 8, 2009-Taiwan, which marks its own National Day nine
days after a lavish display of communist military power by rival
Beijing, should provide the model for reunification with China, a former
top Communist Party aide has told Radio Free Asia (RFA).
Bao Tong, former aide to late ousted Party chief Zhao Ziyang, lauded the
current form of democracy on the self-governing island, which still
celebrates the fall of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) with the 1911
revolution led by Sun Yat-sen.
"In Taiwan, where there is no socialism, it is possible to ferret out
corruption openly," Bao wrote in an essay marking the "Double Tenth"
celebrations.
"On the mainland, where we enjoy the benefits of the dictatorship of the
proletariat, masses of people who turn out to protest at corruption are
suppressed as troublemakers," Bao added, referring to the 1989 military
crackdown on student-led protests on Tiananmen Square.
Bao said that while Taiwan had long since reversed the official verdict
on a massacre of demonstrators by the Nationalist Kuomintang troops in
1947, in China to this day, no one dares to mention "June 4, 1989."
"Courts in Taiwan have the power to pass judgment on high-ranking
officials," wrote Bao, who called for peaceful reunification between
Taiwan and China, ruled separately since the founding of the People's
Republic of China in 1949.
'Mao's dying wish'
"Mao Zedong managed to divide China into two parts: This part is the
'New China' under the leadership of the Communist Party, while the other
is the 'old society' in a faraway place," said Bao.
"Liberating Taiwan was Mao's dying wish, but he didn't have the means to
carry it out, and Taiwan has gone on existing."
"As we on the west bank of the Taiwan Strait have conducted reviews of
the troops and sung the praises of the last 60 years, Taiwan has
continued to develop on the east bank."
Writing from house arrest at his Beijing home, Bao said reunification
should occur on the basis of Taiwan's system of government, not China's.
"In mainland China, where there is no separation of powers and
everything is controlled by the Party, you need the permission of the
provincial Party secretary to lodge a case against a county level
official," Bao wrote.
"Without this, the court has no jurisdiction."
'A big lie'
Bao recalled a comment of former Communist Party supreme leader Mao
Zedong, who is reported to have said: "Unification can be achieved only
on a democratic basis."
"I agree with Mao's assessment," said Bao, who spent seven years in jail
following the fall of his former political mentor Zhao, who was removed
from office by late supreme leader Deng Xiaoping for sympathizing with
the 1989 protesters.
"Only peaceful reunification on the basis of democracy will bring
happiness to compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait."
Bao said the last 60 years of "glorious" communist rule contained "a big
lie."
"In the first 30 years, tens of millions either died of starvation or
were 'struggled' to death under the banner of revolution," he wrote.
"In the second 30 years, anyone standing up for civil and constitutional
rights, for religious freedom, for ethnic autonomy has been declared an
enemy of the people en masse, all in the name of stability."
Rivals Taiwan and mainland China kicked off direct air and sea
transportation links for the first time in 60 years at the end of last
year, with inaugural flights taking off on both sides of the Taiwan
Strait-which leaders said signaled improved ties.
Original essay in Chinese by Bao Tong. Mandarin service director:
Jennifer Chou. Translated and written for the Web in English by Luisetta
Mudie. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han.
Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and
publishing online news, information, and commentary in nine East Asian
languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news
media. RFA's broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion
and expression, including the freedom to "seek, receive, and impart
information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."
RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of
Governors.
If you no longer wish to receive RFA news releases, send an e-mail to
engnews-leave(a)rfanews.org. To add your name to our mailing list, send
an e-mail to engnews-join(a)rfanews.org #####
