Four Chinese Muslims released from Guantánamo Bay arrived in Bermuda yesterday sparking a huge row overseas and on the Island.

Premier Ewart Brown announced the four men Huzaifa Parhat, Abdul Semet, Abdul Nasser and Jalal Jalaladin would be given the opportunity to get Bermudian status, given a job and a place to live.

But it emerged that neither the Foreign and Commonwealth Office or Governor Sir Richard Gozney had been consulted about the move before the men arrived on the Island.

And it prompted an unprecedented number of people to contact The Royal Gazette expressing their criticism of the decision.

At a press conference yesterday morning Dr. Brown said the decision was made to celebrate 400 years of friendship with the United States.

"These men are landed in Bermuda in the short-term, provided with the opportunity to become naturalised citizens and thereafter afforded the right to travel and leave Bermuda, potentially settling elsewhere."

He continued: "The nature of their arrest and detention is such that they are essentially stateless, without documentation and without the benefit of a fresh start will be condemned to languish as innocent men in some form of detention even after the closure of Guantánamo Bay."

And Dr. Brown admitted the process wasn't yet completed.

"I met with His Excellency the Governor this morning, and on behalf of the United Kingdom, he is seeking to further assess the ramifications of this move before allowing the Government of Bermuda to fully implement this action.

"Our colonial relationship with the United Kingdom certainly gives him license to do so.

"Therefore, this fast moving situation now rests at Government House and we await a decision. In many respects, the international community awaits a decision. But in the meantime, I can say on behalf of the Government, we are confident this decision is the right one from a humanitarian perspective."

Dr. Brown spoke yesterday afternoon on Miss Thang's show on Hott 107.5 and said discussions about the move began in May.

"I did not make the decision by myself. I made the decision to raise the issue. It has been work between myself and Minister Burch.

"Nothing like this happens overnight. We started these discussion the middle of May. You can understand that this matter is of such significance and why the talks had to be private and somewhat restricted."

Dr. Brown continued: "We saw this and see it as an immigration issue with potential political overtones and we consider that to be within the portfolio of the Government. Government House says it's foreign policy."

He said the men will work while they are here as they have technical skills and two of them speak English well.

Asked by Miss Thang what he would say to taxpayers' complaints that Bermuda has enough problems, Dr. Brown said: "We have our problems with or without these people and we will continue to have our challenges with or without these four people.

"We have 10,000 guest workers. They come in quietly. I do not see any way their coming will impact the employment of Bermudians, housing of Bermudians or business of Bermudians."

On ZBM news, the Premier said there was no "quid quo pro" with the US over the relocation of the four men.

He did not directly answer a question that Cabinet members had not been consulted over the move and that they were only told just before the press conference.

Yesterday Governor Sir Richard Gozney said while he couldn't fully comment on the situation, he confirmed the decision was made without his knowledge.

He said the men were here, but that there future was not settled. "Yes it was done without permission and the Government of Bermuda should have consulted with us because it carries with it foreign policy ground areas and security issues. I am not going to pass judgement on it. We are talking to the Premier."

But Britain expressed concerns about the move and said it had asked for, and would help Bermuda conduct, a security assessment of the four men, who do not have travel documents and cannot leave the British overseas territory.

"We have underlined to the Bermuda Government that it should have consulted the United Kingdom on whether this falls within their competence or is a foreign affairs or security issue for which the Bermuda Government do not have delegated responsibility," said a spokesperson for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in London.

British Press were interpreting the statement as a signal that the FCO was "incensed" by the move. The Times Online described the FCO response as "ill-disguised fury".

In a sign of the sensitivity of the issue, the State Department said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed the matter with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband yesterday.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a State Department official said Washington negotiated the release of the four Uighurs directly with Bermuda Government on the understanding it was consulting the Governor.

William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, demanded an explanation from Foreign Secretary David Miliband and said the (British) government appeared to have "lost grip of running the country" amid internal Labour party rows over Gordon Brown's future.

"It is astonishing that an agreement of such significance … could have taken place without a ripple reaching Whitehall," Hague said. "The UK is responsible for Bermuda's external relations, defence and security and for appointing its governor. Yet the FCO [Foreign and Commonwealth Office] appears to have had no idea that these discussions were taking place.

"Even before this there were serious questions about whether the government has paid sufficient attention to UK overseas territories. These questions have reached a new level."

The four men aged 25 to 35 are from the Uighur region of northern China and arrived on a charter flight early yesterday morning.

According to their lawyer Susan Manning they were caught by bounty hunters in Pakistan after fleeing the US bombing of Afghanistan post 9/11. She said they had never been trained in arms and were innocent.

The US government, which cleared the men of any wrongdoing last fall, said it could not return the Uighurs to China because they could face persecution. It has searched for months for a nation willing to accept them.

The Pacific nation of Palau has also taken 17 Uighur refugees but other countries including Australia and Germany have refused to accept them.

China yesterday repeated its demand for repatriation of all members of the Uighur ethnic group held at the US detention centre in Cuba. The Chinese government protested over the decision by the American government to resettle the group to Palau and demanded that they be returned to China.

In a news conference in Beijing, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Qin Gang, called the detainees "terrorist suspects" and demanded they be sent back to China as soon as possible.

He said that the United States was ignoring international laws on terrorism in not doing so. Nothing has been said from the Chinese Government about Bermuda accepting the four men.

The Obama administration has been under pressure to resettle the detainees, as it tries to fulfil its promise to close the controversial prison for foreign terrorism suspects.

The US government had determined that the Chinese Muslims at Guantánamo weren't enemy combatants and should be released. But China resisted their release and it had been unclear where they would go free. Thirteen other Uighurs remain to be freed from Guantánamo.

US Attorney General Eric Holder yesterday said in a written statement: "By helping accomplish the President's objective of closing Guantánamo, the transfer of these detainees will make America safer.

"We are extremely grateful to the Government of Bermuda for its assistance in the successful resettlement of these four detainees, and we commend the leadership they have demonstrated on this important issue."

US officials did not say what restrictions, if any, would be placed on the Uighurs as they are resettled in Bermuda.

"We will consult regularly with the Government of Bermuda on the status of these individuals," said Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd. One US official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss negotiations between the US and Bermuda, said the four would not be allowed to travel to the United States without prior approval from American authorities.

Last night US Consul General Gregory Slayton said: "I just want to emphasise this is a humanitarian mission and people are grateful to the Government of Bermuda."

Mr. Slayton said the men had been through thorough background checks and were found to be non combatant, not terrorists.

He said he wasn't able to discuss Dr. Brown making the decision without consulting with the UK. Lawyer for the men, Susan Manning said: "What the Bermuda Government has done is a great thing. I hope and expect that the Bermuda people will be proud of their Government for doing this. These are innocent men.

"It is a profound act of generosity to give these men refuge. I understand that there may be some concerns but let's get real they are only four people and they are refugees.

"Bermuda has shown the courage of its convictions. It has been willing to step up and do the right thing."

Uighurs are from Xinjiang, an isolated region that borders Afghanistan, Pakistan and six Central Asian nations. They say they have been repressed by the Chinese government. China long has said that insurgents are leading an Islamic separatist movement in Xinjiang.

Since 2002, more than 540 detainees have departed Guantánamo for other countries including Albania, Algeria, Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Belgium, Denmark, Egypt, France, Great Britain, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Libya, Maldives, Mauritania, Morocco, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom and Yemen.

What do you think?<\p>E-mail news<\@>royalgazette.bm.