Democrat Patrick Leahy has become the latest American politician to praise Bermuda for taking in four former Guantánamo Bay prisoners.

He made a statement in the United States Senate voicing strong support for the Government's decision to offer asylum to the Chinese Uighurs.

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary said on Tuesday that the men were from an ethnic group which had long suffered discrimination and oppression in northwestern China.

"Their release is welcome news. Our own federal courts had cleared them for release, as did both the Bush and Obama administrations. Bermudian Prime Minister Dr. Ewart Brown and the Bermudian people have done a humanitarian service and should be praised for it."

Sen. Leahy said he was disappointed the US had not found a way to resettle Uighurs held at Guantánamo in the States.

"There are Uighur communities in several states that would have welcomed them and helped them become productive members of society," he claimed. "It would also have been an important gesture to other countries that we are asking to accept Guantánamo detainees.

"All the more reason that we should offer our sincere thanks to Bermuda for helping to put this sorry episode behind us."

Sen. Leahy's comments follow remarks from fellow Democrat Bill Delahunt, who was reported to have said of Dr. Brown this week: "You, as a moral leader, have made the right decision and we applaud you for it."

Congressman Delahunt, chairman of the US House of Representatives subcommittee on international organisations, human rights and oversight, is due to meet the four Uighurs in Bermuda this weekend.

His chief of staff said he wanted to learn more about their apprehension and their detention during the seven years they spent at Guantánamo.

Dr. Brown said he was pleased about Congressman Delahunt's visit. "We very much welcome his expert viewpoint on this subject and I look forward to talking with the congressman about Bermuda's commitment to this humanitarian gesture."

In Britain, meanwhile, the Opposition Conservative Party has been highly critical of the fact that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office knew nothing of Bermuda's negotiations with the States.

Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague said: "It is astonishing that an agreement of such significance between the US and Bermuda, involving the resettlement of four former terrorist suspects to a British Overseas Territory, could have taken place without a ripple reaching Whitehall.

"The UK is responsible for Bermuda's external relations, defence and security and for appointing its Governor. Yet the FCO appears to have had no idea that these discussions were taking place.

"This can only confirm the perception that the Labour Government has been so busy with its own internal turmoil that it has lost grip of running the country.

"Even before this blunder there were serious questions about whether the Government has paid sufficient attention to the UK Overseas Territories. Now these questions have reached a whole new level, demanding a response from the Foreign Secretary."