Freed from Guantánamo, but nowhere to go
The New York Times published a story on the 10th (that I only just stumbled across) about a number of Chinese terrorist suspects that have released from Guantánamo, only to find themselves in a a state of limbo, as the headline terms it. The story can be found here, but I’ll summarize for those in a hurry.
The people in question are from the Muslim Uighur minority in China. The men left their homes in China in order to escape government persecution and earn money for their families. They ended up in Afghanistan, where they lived in a remote camp. During the Afghanistan War, they were picked up by the U.S. as suspected terrorists. The men were transferred to Guantánamo, but eventually U.S. intelligence began to doubt that the Uighurs represented a real threat. The men were cleared for release; it just wasn’t clear where they should go. Chinese officials maintain that the men are still terrorist suspects. The U.S. approached various countries around the world in order to find a nation that would accept the men. Some tried to make additional demands on the U.S. before agreeing, others were pressured by China to decline.
The Uighurs are currently living in Albania, but they cannot see families or move to other countries, as no other countries will take them. This exposes one of the fundamental problems with the Bush administration’s actions in Cuba. There is a long history of international legal procedure for dealing with prisoners of war. Likewise, noncombatants have relatively clearly defined rights in international law. The administration argued that the War on Terror required a new method of dealing with terrorists, as they do not clearly fall into POW or non-combatant status.
It doesn’t really work though. These suspects are detained and tried based on evidence that would not be admissible in traditional courts. When the U.S. can’t make a case with these reduced evidence standards, it’s highly unlikely that traditional trials will be an option. Some of these prisoners in Gitmo are dangerous people, but because this administration tried to create a third class of combatants, utilizing military tribunals to try them, there is no way to re-integrate detainees into the traditional legal system. They really do end up in limbo.
Innocent or not, these men just spent years in detention. Upon being freed they have nowhere to go. Many have been subjected to interrogation techniques that are questionable at best, outright torture at worst. They may not have started as anti-American terrorists, but I’d be willing to bet that their opinions of the U.S. are pretty low at this point.
This is sort of a rant, but it seems to be an ugly and ineffective system that violates the rights of many and weakens existing international legal norms. I’d welcome some debate on this issue, so if you disagree, please tell me why.
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