Lawyer says transport to Palau only barrier for Uighurs
Updated
An Obama administration task force has so far cleared 75 of the remaining 223 Guantanamo prisoners for release as part of its effort to close the detention camp, and the six headed for Palau have been given the go-ahead for their move.
The US review team is examining each prisoner's case to decide who will be held for trial and who can be sent home or resettled in other nations. This has proved to be good news for the 13 Chinese Muslims, or Uighurs, who remain at Guantanamo.
Presenter: Geraldine Coutts
Speaker: Johnson Toribiong, Palau's President; George Clarke, Washington-based lawyer with Miller and Chevalier and representing two of the six Uighur detainees permitted to leave for Palau
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TORIBIONG: We will receive six detainees from Guantanamo, they'll be arriving in Palau before the end of this year. In order for them to relocate to Palau they have to consent, we will receive them as free human beings.
COUTTS: Palau's President Johnson Toribiong speaking at the United Nations General Assembly over the weekend.
George Clarke is a Washington-based lawyer with Miller and Chevalier, and represents two of the six detainees now permitted to leave Guantanamo for Palau. I spoke to him earlier, and asked about the status of the two Uighurs he represents?
CLARKE: Those men have accepted that the very kind and generous offer of the Palauans to resettle there and are awaiting being resettled there.
COUTTS: Can I just ask you for a bit of background, people who might be joining this story for the first time - why did your clients find themselves in Guantanamo Bay?
CLARKE: Well all of the Uighurs were picked up either in Afghanistan or in Pakistan. My two clients happened to have been picked up in Afghanistan after they fled the bombing raids. They were essentially sold for bounty to the United States through the Afghans, and then within a very short period of time after being picked up the United States determined that they did not pose a threat, and has been trying to find a home for them since then.
COUTTS: And why has it taken so long?
CLARKE: Well it depends on who you talk to. I think one major element of it is that there's a lot of Chinese pressure. We've heard that repeatedly both from the diplomat corps and also from folks in other countries that the Chinese have been putting a lot of pressure on other countries who have a Uighur population, such as Australia, not to take these men.
COUTTS: Now Mr Clarke you are representing two of the Uighurs, but as we've just heard Palau President Johnson Toribiong has said that Palau will accept six of the original 13. Why is it kept at six do you know?
CLARKE: It's not kept at six from the perspective of the Palauans, it's some of the men have chosen not to accept the offer. And at this point they have chosen that.
COUTTS: Ok so what happens to them then if they're not accepting this offer from Palau?
CLARKE: Well again I don't think that's a final decision with respect to some of the other men, and I don't represent those others so I don't know, I don't have the most up to date and current information. But again I think that as far as I know the men other than the six are still considering what to do.
COUTTS: Where are they at the moment, your clients?
CLARKE: Everyone is still in Guantanamo, all of the 13 are still in Guantanamo and have not been moved.
COUTTS: What will it take to get them out of there?
CLARKE: A C-17 presumably, a US military transport plane, that's what's going happen. The Palauans are preparing for them to come as I believe you quoted the Palauan President as saying. So they have to get accommodations for them and just practically the things on the ground dealt with, and they're working on that and as soon as that's done the US is going to transport them to Palau.
COUTTS: And when was the last time you saw your clients?
CLARKE: The last time I saw them was probably 20 or 25 days ago.
COUTTS: And were they in good physical, emotional and psychological shape?
CLARKE: They are, they have been living, all of the Uighur men since September or October of last year have been living in a place in Guantanamo called Camp Iguana, which is the most minimum security in Guantanamo. And they're healthy mentally, they are looking forward to getting out of Guantanamo, and every day that there is another day that they can't get on with the rest of the lives. So they certainly want this to happen and want it to happen quickly. But they're positive and I think they're ready for this next stage of their lives.
COUTTS: How old are your clients? Do they have wives and children and family as well?
CLARKE: Both of my clients are in their mid-thirties and neither of them was married and neither has children. They both have family as far as parents that still live in the Uighur homeland in China, but no wives or children.
COUTTS: And do you think that they're likely to remain in Palau for ever more or is this a stepping stone elsewhere for them to maybe reunite with some of their family somewhere?
CLARKE: Well I think practically they certainly would like to reunite with some of their family, they would also like to be part of the Uighur expatriate community of which right now there isn't any members of the Uighur expatriate community in Palau. I think the other thing, I'm not sure if you reported this or whether I saw it in other comments from the President of Palau, the intent is for this to be a temporary settlement. So we'll see, hopefully some other country, a country that has a large Uighur population, will not continue to bow to Chinese pressure and be interested in helping the men get on with their lives in a place that there's a Uighur community.
