Thursday, Dec. 23, 2010
By FRANK CHING
The Japan Times Online
HONG KONG — For some people, the very name Guantanamo has come to stand for something repulsive about America — in particular the difference between what it preaches about human rights and what it practices.
In the detention camp, people suspected of being members of the Taliban or al-Qaida were held without charge and, because the camp was not on American soil, the detainees could not take their cases to U.S. courts.
Eventually, the U.S. government determined that some detainees were not terrorists and could be released. Most were sent back to their home countries.
There were 22 Uighurs — an ethnic minority of Muslims — from the Xinjiang region of China. Beijing demanded that they be repatriated but the Uighurs pleaded not to be returned to China, where they feared torture and imprisonment.
So the U.S. began a search for countries that would take them. It wasn't easy.
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