Released Uyghurs express thanks to President Obama and all who did not forget them

[grantcart]

CNN reporting

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/06/12/bermuda.uyghurs/index.html


After 7 years at Gitmo, resettled Uyghurs grateful for freedom






Mamut accused the Bush administration of having held them without cause, and lauded Obama for having "tried really hard to bring justice and he has been trying very hard to find other countries to resettle us and finally he freed us."

He appealed to Obama to carry out his promise to shut Guantanamo Bay within a year. "I would like President Obama to honor that word and to free my 13 brothers who were left behind and all of the rest of the people who deserve to be free," Mamut said.

Asked how he had been treated in Guantanamo Bay, Mamut said, "It is a jail, so there will be difficulties in the jail that we have faced and now, since I am a free man today, I would like to forget about all that. I really don't want to think about those days."

He cited a proverb from his homeland that means, "What is done cannot be undone."

Asked if he had anything to say to anyone watching, he said, "Thank you very much for those people who helped me to gain freedom."

[Diamonique]

1. Very nice. Thanks for posting this. n/t

[Cha]

2. This is what I'm freakin' talkin'

about:bounce::loveya:

[namahage]

3. K&R. n/t

[babylonsister]

4. There've been several detainees

released this past week. I hope they're all as relieved and grateful.

[firedupdem]

5. Rec'd. Thanks...I didn't know about this at all. Great. n/t

[Kdillard]

6. Kick and rec. Slowly but surely the President is making things right.

[Stockholm]

7. Bermuda?

I am sorry but I can´t muster any enthusiasm about this? And what about the five Uighurs stuck in a stinking UN refugee camp in a stinking Albania slum?

Shame on the US for not bringing them to the US or putting them in the care of UNHCR so that they could be included in the refugee quotas. Shame on the 24 countries asked to accept these people but refusing, citing immigration policies when everyone knows it was just a way of telling the US to fix its own mess.

And as long as I´m on the soap box, shame on the Chinese for hunting these people with extradition calls and Uighurs in General.



Stockholm

[merh]

8. 3 more from Gitmo were released to Saudi Arabia on Friday.

United States Transfers Three Guantanamo Detainees to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Three Saudi nationals were transferred today from the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia under appropriate security measures.

All individuals transferred to Saudi Arabia are subject to judicial review in Saudi Arabia before they undergo a rehabilitation program. While in a rehabilitation program, they will be under the control of the Saudi Government. The U.S. and Saudi Governments are working closely together on all matters related to the transfer of Saudi detainees from Guantanamo to Saudi Arabia.

As directed by the President’s Jan. 22, 2009, Executive Order, the interagency Guantanamo Review Task Force conducted a comprehensive review of the cases involving Khalid Saad Mohammed, Abdalaziz Kareem Salim Al Noofayaee and Ahmed Zaid Salim Zuhair. As a result of that review, these detainees were approved for transfer from Guantanamo Bay. Each of these detainees was previously cleared for transfer by the prior Administration. The transfers were carried out pursuant to an arrangement between the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

more @ http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/June/09-ag-587.html

Of course, I'm not real sure Saudi Arabia is much better, they have a violent, inhumane government. The press release states the US will monitor their rehab.