The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
February 19, 2009

Court Blocks Release of Uyghur Prisoners
----------------------------------------



A federal appeals court has blocked the release of seventeen Uyghur
prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. The group was previously ordered to be
resettled with other Uyghur families in the United States. But a
three-judge panel ruled District Judge Ricardo Urbina had erred in
ordering their release into the US. The US government has admitted the
men have been unlawfully detained but won’t send them back to China
where they face persecution. Emi Mac Lean of the Center for
Constitutional Rights said, “The new administration must act quickly to
remedy the failings of the old. If President Obama is committed to
closing Guantánamo, he must allow these stranded Uyghurs into the United
States.”



.