BREAKING NEWS: Court overturns ruling that would have transferred 17 Gitmo detainees to U.S.

[IDemo]

Source: MSNBC.com

updated 2 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court has overturned a ruling that would have transferred 17 Guantanamo Bay detainees to the United States.

The men are Turkic Muslims known as Uighurs. They have been cleared for release from Guantanamo, but the United States will not send them home to China for fear they will be tortured. So they remain in prison while the U.S. figures out what to do with them.

A federal judge ruled in October that the men should be transferred to U.S. soil because they were no longer enemy combatants and the government didn't have the authority to hold them.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled Wednesday that only immigration officials, not a judge, can bring foreigners into the country.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29258260/

[Pirate Smile]

1. Here yo go: Court reverses ruling bringing 17 detainees to US

Court reverses ruling bringing 17 detainees to US

The men are Turkic Muslims known as Uighurs (WEE'-gurz). They have been cleared for release from Guantanamo, but the United States will not send them home to China for fear they will be tortured. So they remain in prison while the U.S. figures out what to do with them.

A federal judge ruled in October that the men should be transferred to U.S. soil because they were no longer enemy combatants and the government didn't have the authority to hold them.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled Wednesday that only immigration officials, not a judge, can bring foreigners into the country.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090218/ap_on_go_ot/guantanamo_detainees;_ylt=AryqIH7lpe7G99rvOOkUcwGyFz4D

[Renew Deal]

2. Interesting

Does this apply to all "detainees?"

[Brgotn]

3. Only if

they were going to turn them loose on US soil. I pray that Obama is planning on turning the others loose.

[Renew Deal]

5. What do you mean by "turn loose?"

Are you saying that these guys would be set free?

[Brgotn]

7. No...

The Judge wanted to set the ones that would go back to China loose in the US.

[Renew Deal]

9. You just said the same thing.

What do you mean by loose? If you don't mean set free, then what do you mean?

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Renew Deal]

16. I kind of detected it

Because loose means set free, and I don't think these guys are going to be set free.

[The Stranger]

10. Are you saying innocent people who have never been charged should NOT be set free?

[Renew Deal]

11. I'm not saying anything about that.

I'm trying to clarify what the poster means by loose. Des he mean that they will be set free in the US or that they will be imprisoned in the US. Theres an important distinction. The second half is RW bullshit implying that they are "loose" in the US by sitting in prison.

[marksmithfield]

25. Where do you get the info?

I saw nothing about their innocence, They are just being released.

[The Stranger]

27. Maybe you forgot.

Individuals are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

[elleng]

6. No

Just these.

[dipsydoodle]

4. Given that Gitmo is on a lease in perpuity

to the USA then surely for current purposes Gitmo is US soil. So - what's the issue with moving from one bit of US soil to another ? Do you think someone is just boxing clever here ?

[elleng]

8. No, but

it would be nice to see the decision.

We know we've heard from some idjots that guantanamo folks should not be imprisoned in THEIR backyards.

With these guys, 'we' were ready to return them home, but 'home' is so hostile to them that it would be a risk to their lives. We're trying to be 'humane,' but can't find the humane place for them. I think.

[Piewhacket]

14. Decision

U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
Jamal Kiyemba v. Barack Obama
February 18, 2009

Notice: pdf 90K
http://pacer.cadc.uscourts.gov/common/opinions/200902/08-5424-1165428.pdf
reversed and remanded
Comment:
"Diplomatic efforts to locate an appropriate third country
in which to resettle them are continuing. In the meantime,
petitioners are held under the least restrictive conditions possible
in the Guantanamo military base."

[elleng]

21. THANK YOU

THANK YOU!

THe U.S. has a lot of work to do in order to address the issues presented here AND, likely, down the road concerning other detainees. Thank our Founders!

[iandhr]

12. So

Is this good news or bad news?

[dipsydoodle]

13. Sweden has already agreed to take one,

not included in the 17 mentioned, who had previously been accepted by Albania.

Sweden has agreed to give asylum to a Chinese Muslim man who was held at Guantanamo Bay for almost five years.

The migration court accepted that Adel Hakimjan, from China's Uighur minority, was not a terrorist and granted him permanent residency as a refugee.

There are still 17 Uighurs being held at Guantanamo Bay. They refuse to return to China because they fear persecution there.

Activists welcomed Sweden's move and urged other countries to follow suit.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7897494.stm

[Bette Noir]

17. These are not anti-American terrorists.

These are people who were labeled terrorists by the Chinese government-- the COMMUNIST Chinese government, which was our mortal enemy just a few decades ago. These detainees fear imprisonment and torture at the hands of the Chinese because of their PRO-AMERICA, pro-freedom sentiments.

Their continued detention is likely due to a combination of racism, xenophobia, and a desire to pander to China, which holds the mortgage on the US.

[kpete]

18. Court Reverses Ruling Bringing 17 Detainees to U.S.

Source: Washington Post

Court Reverses Ruling Bringing 17 Detainees to U.S.
By Del Quentin Wilber
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 18, 2009; 11:45 AM

A federal appeals court this morning blocked the transfer to the United States of a small band of Chinese Muslims held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

In a decision released this morning, the three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit reversed a lower court ruling that ordered the transfer. The 17 Chinese Muslims, all Uighurs, have been held at Guantanamo Bay since 2002.

P. Sabin Willett, an attorney representing the Uighurs, called today's decision "one of the darkest days in the history of our judiciary."

The Uighurs present a tough problem for the U.S. government, which no longer deems the men to be threats or enemy combatants. The men cannot be sent back to China, where they are viewed as terrorists and might be tortured and killed.

http://pacer.cadc.uscourts.gov/common/opinions/200902/08-5424-1165428.pdf

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/18/AR2009021801324.html?hpid=topnews

[shadowknows69]

19. Shouldn't Guantanamo fall under the dreaded "National Security" title?

Why can't Obama just order this to be done? When did a federal court ever stop one of shrub's decisions when it came to NS?

[Davis_X_Machina]

23. Obama can. A district court can't.

...and that's the opinion in a nutshell.

[mmonk]

20. Who brought it to the appeals court?

This violates all precepts of our Constitution. Held without charge.

[Davis_X_Machina]

22. Anybody read the opinion?

The decision is a procedural one.

The DC Circuit ruled that the political branches -- Congress by legislation, and the Executive, by appropriate agency action -- alone have the power to admit someone not a citizen to the US. The lower court didn't have the power to do what it did. If ICE lets them in, O.K. If Congress passes a law letting them in, O.K.

The court didn't care for the lower court's choice of remedy. It didn't reach the merits -- if there are any -- of the policy that had the Uighurs in detention in the first place.

[goforit]

24. Let them live next door to Bush and Cheney. They would make great neighbors.

[underpants]

26. Fox News is including the phrase "released into the US.." in their coverage

Gee wonder why they'd do a thing like that :think: