Congressmen Resolve To Support Chinese Uighurs

By Sam Wechsler - Talk Radio News Service

On Friday, Rep. William Delahunt (D-Mass.) and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) announced a resolution to condemn China's violent repression of the recent Uighur protests. The resolution asks Congress to go on record in support of the Uighur people and criticizes the U.S. government for not speaking out against the Chinese oppression of the Uighur people.

State-run media in China claims that as a result of clashes with Chinese law enforcement officers in recent weeks, the Uighur death toll is 156. The Uighurs estimate the actual count is approximately 500, with thousands more imprisoned.

The Chinese place blame of their violence against the Uighurs on Rebiya Kadeer, President of the World Uighur Congress, who was present at the news conference. She has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize on three separate occasions.

In a letter written to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Rep. Delahunt and Rep. Rohrabacher stated, “[Kadeer] has never encouraged nor supported violence in the past and instead has sought a peaceful resolution to her people’s troubles in China...[We] find it appalling that the Chinese government is attempting to ascribe its own brutal acts as the responsibility of this courageous woman who fully embraces democracy and non-violence.”

During Friday's news conference, Rep. Delahunt was particularly enraged by the fact that the U.S. Department of Defense would not allow members of the House Human Rights and Oversight Subcommittee to interview the Uighur detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Rather, the U.S. allowed Chinese officials to interrogate the Uighur detainees.

According to Susan Baker Manning, a defense attorney for the Uighur detainees, the Uighurs stated that the Chinese interrogation was their “lowest point” at Guantanamo Ba

Constitutional Lawyer Says US Should Take Uyghurs

By Annie Berman -- Talk Radio News Service

The House Committee on Foreign Affairs held a hearing Tuesday to determine whether or not the Uyghurs held at Guantanamo Bay were a part of a terrorist organization known as the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM).

Testifying in front of the committee, Bruce Fein, an attorney who specializes in international law argued that the United States needs to take responsibility for the Uyghurs.

Said Fein, “Give the Uyghurs permanent residence in the United States of America like we should have done all along, rather than making other countries take them.”

Susan Baker Manning, a primary defense attorney for a number of the Uygher detainees at Guantanamo, including the four men who were recently released to Bermuda, argued that the detainees have absolutely no relation to any terrorist organization.

“There is no evidence that we are seeing in four long years of vigorous litigation that the original justification for detaining any of the Uyghur men was in affiliation with ETIM or with any other ostensible Uyghur organization,” said Manning.

The question of whether or not ETIM ever existed was discussed as well.

“Chinese authorities continue to arrest Uyghur nationalists inside China over the last 8 years claiming that they are members of ETIM. These arrests have not generally been in response to acts of violence, but related most often to political descent,” said Sean R. Roberts, a Professor of International Affairs at George Washington University, who testified via web broadcast. The bulk of Roberts’ testimony seemed to imply that only the Chinese government believes that ETIM is a terrorist organization.

Said Committee Chairman Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.), “It would appear that we have not heard anything about or from ETIM.”

Manning added, “Most of the Uyghurs had never even heard of the ETIM until they were questioned about it by U.S. interrogators. Nor had they heard of al-Qaida.”

Uyghur Gitmo Detainees Described As "Peaceful Men"

A group of 17 Uyghur men are being held at Guantanamo Bay for no reason according to the defense attorney for six of the men.

Uyghurs (Wee-gurs) are a group of Turkic people who live in the areas of Central Asia that is commonly known as East Turkestan. The men were picked up during the Afghan war by bounty hunters and handed over to the U.S. They believe they have been portrayed as dangerous terrorists, however, they have been working to change their image to that of peaceful, innocent men. They have been held at Guantanamo for 6 years.

“What the American public needs to understand about the Uyghurs at Guantanamo is that they have been exonerated by the military,” said Susan Baker Manning, a lawyer for six of the men, at a press conference Tuesday in Washington, D.C., “They were exonerated by the Bush administration and they have been exonerated by the courts. The courts have found that there is no evidence of a link to terrorism. The courts have found that there is no evidence that they are dangerous in any way, shape or form. We cannot in good faith and we cannot Constitutionally continue to imprison these innocent men at Guantanamo," Manning said.

According to Manning, a military translator confused the word “protest” in Uyghur for “fight.” She said the mistranslation may be the reason the men have been held at Guantanamo.

Manning added that she believes the administration is dedicated to the release of these men and it has to happen as soon as possible. There is currently a Supreme Court petition pending for a review of the men’s cases.