Premier Ewart Brown made a decision "based on his human heart" to let four Muslims from Guantánamo Bay come to Bermuda — and those that protested against him last week were "prejudiced and racist".

That is the view of Al Hajj Clinton Muhammad, a spokesman for the Masjid Muhammad Mosque on Cedar Avenue, who describes himself as a pioneer of Islam on the Island.

Mr. Muhammad told The Royal Gazette yesterday that Dr. Brown's "great act of humanitarianism" in letting Abdulla Abdulqadir, Salahidin Abdulahad, Ablikim Turahun and Khalil Mamut seek asylum here should come as no surprise, since the Premier won a humanitarian award in 1991. "There are other issues that I have not been so happy about with some of his decisions but this one, I agree with," said Mr. Muhammad, from Shelley Bay.

"He's a human being. The part of him that feels about people is what touched him. I don't think he had time to say: 'Let me discuss this with this person or that person'.

"After seeing the situation and examining the facts, he made a decision based on his human heart. The Muslim community gives him our full support."

The four Uighurs were detained for seven years at Guantánamo after fleeing alleged religious persecution in their homeland of China.

They were twice cleared as enemy combatants by the US and came here on a private plane from Cuba on June 11, sparking what Dr. Brown has described as a local and international "firestorm".

Mr. Muhammad said he was at both protests held against Dr. Brown last week and was disturbed by what he witnessed, including hearing "the n word said by one or two people".

His comments follow PLP backbencher Zane DeSilva revealing that he was called a "n lover" at the first protest outside Cabinet. "I honestly do not believe that those protests were aimed at these [Muslim] men," said Mr. Muhammad. "I believe that they were around the Premier. I believe that they were prejudiced and racist.

"I heard a lot of racial slogans. It was shocking for me to actually believe that this form of racism was actually still alive and well in Bermuda.

"I really, really thought Bermuda had grown a little more than that."

Father-of-one Mr. Muhammad, who was called Clinton Furbert Jr. before converting to Islam in 1972, said the Uighur Muslims from Guantánamo attended his mosque last Sunday for breakfast and prayer.

"We gave them the traditional codfish and potatoes," he said. "They were very humble. In fact, they were so humble they cried. They were so grateful to be treated as human beings.

"We feel that Dr. Brown has done a wonderful act of humanitarianism in helping to free people who were incarcerated for a very long time. Seven years is a long time to be in prison."

Mr. Muhammad said Bermuda's Muslim community, which he estimated numbered about 600, welcomed the men with open arms and would do everything to help them fit in quickly.

"I don't think it's going to be difficult," he said. "They are going to have us to work with them. We are going to certainly open doors for them. I don't know what trades they have at this particular time. I do know that they are willing to work."

The 62-year-old added: "The main point that our community wants to get over is that they are not terrorists and Bermuda doesn't have anything to be afraid of with these men. If you get around them, you'll know that.

"We have examined these men and in speaking with them we know they are not terrorists. They were cleared as terrorists. They are very, very humble men, very grateful to Bermuda."

Mr. Muhammad, security supervisor at Elbow Beach Hotel, said he could empathise with the Uighurs, who say they fled persecution in their homeland of China, because he served a long stretch in jail overseas after badly hurting two men who broke into his home.

"Can you imagine coming from Guantánamo Bay to a place of paradise like Bermuda?" he said. "Guantánamo is a maximum-security prison.

"I know how these maximum security foreign prisons work. I know how their situation is because I have experienced it myself. It's a very, very harrowing situation."

The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that some Uighur Muslims from Guantánamo Bay who have been offered resettlement in Palau were wary of moving to the tiny Pacific island nation.

Palau's President said the men feared that the country would not be able to protect them from China, which wants them to be deported there.