On The Front Lines
Rutherford Institute Welcomes End of Unlawful Detention of the Uighurs, 17 Chinese Muslims Detained at Guantanamo, Sent to Palau
WASHINGTON -- The United States has reportedly reached an agreement with Palau, a Pacific archipelagic nation, to accept the 17 Chinese Muslims, known as Uighurs, currently being held at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. The Uighurs have been held at Guantanamo for nearly seven years now, but have long been recognized by the U.S. government not to be "enemy combatants," nor hostile to the U.S., dating back to the Bush administration. The Rutherford Institute welcomes their long-overdue release from detention.
The Rutherford Institute, the Constitution Project and nine prominent conservatives had called on the U.S. government to end the unlawful detention of the 17 Uighurs and recognize its responsibility in resettling some of those being held. The statement read in part: "The courts, the United States military, and the former administration under President Bush have long recognized that these men are not 'enemy combatants,' and do not pose a threat to the United States. After nearly seven years, there are no legal or moral grounds for holding these men one day longer. We call upon the U.S. government to end the unlawful detention of these men, release them into the United States, and recognize the United States' obligations to resettle some Guantanamo detainees in our country in order to encourage other nations to share in this responsibility."
To see a copy of the statement, signed onto by Stephen E. Abraham, Mickey Edwards, Richard A. Epstein, Thomas B. Evans, Jr., David Keene, William H. Taft, IV, Don Wallace Jr., John W. Whitehead, and Lawrence B. Wilkerson, go to: http://www.constitutionproject.org/manage/file/152.pdf.
The Rutherford Institute, along with the Constitution Project, Brennan Center for Justice, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and the City of New York Bar Association, filed a friend of the court brief in the Supreme Court on May 7, urging the Court to accept review of the Uighur's case seeking release from Guantanamo now that they have been recognized not to be enemy combatants. To view the brief, go to: http://www.constitutionproject.org/manage/file/145.pdf.
