US

White House slams order to free Guantanamo detainees

Article published on the 2008-10-08 Latest update 2008-10-08 11:41 TU

Guantanamo Bay prison camp
(Photo: AFP)

The White House has criticised a court's order to release 17 detainees in Guantanamo Bay into the US and promised to appeal against it. Earlier this year the 17 ethnic Uighurs were declared not to be "enemy combatants" but they were kept in the prison camp because the authorities failed to find a country to offer them a home.

"The district court's ruling, if allowed to stand, could be used as precedent for other detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, including sworn enemies of the United States suspected of planning the attacks of 9/11, who may also seek release into our country," White House spokesperson Dana Perino said in a statement.

Earlier a district court had ordered the 17 Uighurs, who are from a mainly-Muslim ethnic minority which lives in China's Xinjiang region, to be released in the US.

Judge Ricardo Urbina ordered that they be brought before him in Washington on Friday to be introduced to some Uighur families that are ready to take them in. 

Another hearing on 16 October will determine under what conditions they can reside in the US.

China Tuesday demanded that they be repatriated, claiming that they are members of the East Turkmenistan Islamic Movement, "which has been listed as a terrorist organisation by the UN Security Council".

When the men were declared not to be "enemy combatants", Washington claimed that they would be in danger if they were handed over to Beijing but also refused to keep them on American soil.

No other country has agreed to receive them, so they have been kept in Guantanamo Bay since then.