Four Uighur detainees held for years at the US prison in Guantanamo Bay have been resettled on the Atlantic island of Bermuda, dpa cited the US Justice Department as confirming today. It marks the first time since 2006 that the United States has been able to find homes for any of the remaining Uighurs detainees, who are Chinese citizens. All Uighurs held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have been ordered freed by US courts. China on Thursday demanded the return of all Uighurs, an ethnic Muslim minority in the country, but the United States has refused out of fear that they could be tortured or even executed there. The remotePacific island nation of Palau said Wednesday that it had agreed to accept 17 ethnic Uighur detainees. But the US said the details were still being worked out and it is unclear how the Bermuda resettlement will affect Palau's offer. The United States has approached a number of countries to take some of the roughly 240 detainees remaining at Guantanamo Bay after strong opposition by the US Congress to releasing the prisoners onto US soil. President Barack Obama has promised to close Guantanamo, which has served as a lightning-rod for criticism of the US war against terrorism, by the end of the year. Saudi Arabia is considering taking a large number of the approximately 100 Yemeni detainees remaining at the facility, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The Uighur detainees have spent seven years at Guantanamo Bay. They were arrested separately in Afghanistan and Pakistan after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States. Five other Uighurs were transferred to Albania in 2006. "By helping accomplish the president's objective of closing Guantanamo, the transfer of these detainees will make America safer," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement. "We are extremely grateful to the government of Bermuda for its assistance in the successful resettlement of these four detainees."
