Uigher Detainees in Guantanamo Likely To Be Resettled in Washington DC

Seven years after Hozaifa Parhat was detained near Afghanistan's Tora Bora mountains and sent to Guantanamo Bay, Parhat and 16 fellow Chinese Uighurs appear likely to be the first of the 245 prisoners still at the U.S. military prison in Cuba to be set free under the Obama administration.President Obama has made closing the camp a priority, and federal courts have so far ruled that the Uighur detainees present no threat to the United States.But freed to where? China is insisting that the Uighurs be sent home to face trial for separatist activities and is denouncing any other country accepting them.

"The Uighurs live primarily on the wild northwestern steppes of China in a region officially known as Xinjiang but called Turkestan by the Uighurs. Beijing has come under widespread criticism from the United States and others for its repression of rights and religious freedom there. People familiar with the talks within the administration said there was little chance the White House would agree to return the Uighurs to China, given the widespread belief that they might be tortured or executed if sent back.

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