Former Gitmo prisoner starts a family here
One of Bermuda’s four Uighurs has got married and is expecting a child with his wife, his lawyer has revealed.Boston-based attorney Sabin Willett announced the news in an article posted on the Lawfare blog last week. He wrote of the four men who came to the Island in June, 2009 after seven years imprisonment at Guantánamo Bay: “One lives with his wife and expects a child; the others dream of wives and children.”The father-to-be told The Royal Gazette he did not want to comment and we have decided not to identify him out of respect for his and his family’s privacy.But this newspaper did ask Government whether the man’s wife, a non-Bermudian who has moved here from abroad, had been given permission to stay here long-term.A spokesman said: “The Ministry of National Security does not comment on individual cases or personal circumstances.”The four Uighurs, from Chinese Turkestan, remain in a state of limbo on the Island, having neither passports nor travel documents allowing them to go overseas.They were brought here after former Premier Dr Ewart Brown and former National Security Minister David Burch struck an agreement with the US, without the UK’s knowledge.The UK remains in talks with the US on the issue but has refused to give them British passports.Governor Sir Richard Gozney said this week: “In Bermuda, the immigration status of the four Uighurs is an internal matter for the Bermuda Government.“As far as any British travel documents are concerned, there is no decision pending: they have no present entitlement to British nationality of any type, including British citizenship or British Overseas Territories citizenship.“Under the provisions of the British Nationality Act, they are not presently eligible to apply for British passports.”Mr Willett told this newspaper: “I would say the British have not been helpful. I know that there continues to be a frustration with their main goal in life, which is to get married and have families.”The lawyer suggested the four Muslim men could be given refugee status to allow them to travel and meet Muslim wives from their own culture, who speak their language.Mr Willett said: “It’s hard to move forward with these difficulties in terms of refugee status.“I wish the English government would recognise that the best way for people to be happy and assimilated in a society is to be married and have children. Maybe this will work out.”He claimed: “They [the UK] do control the refugee situation, which then leads to where you can travel or meet somebody or have status to bring somebody in.”At the moment, the 1951 UN Refugee Convention doesn’t extend to Bermuda, though it does apply in the UK.Sir Richard said: “Given the obligations contained in a treaty such as the 1951 Refugee Convention, clearly the treaty could have internal repercussions for Bermuda.“The British Government have a consistent policy: respect for the internal autonomy of Bermuda. So they would not expect to extend the treaty to Bermuda unless there were a request from the Bermuda Government and then only in close consultation with that Bermuda Government.“Over the years, there has been no such request from the Bermuda Government.”The Governor added: “If, as you suggest, one of the four Uighurs is about to start a family here, personally I wish him well.”Shadow National Security Minister Michael Dunkley described Bermuda’s Uighurs as “sadly ... pawns in a very sorry affair”.He said: “The people of Bermuda must be wondering why this ever took place and where does it all end. Years on, many questions remain unanswered.“I am sure many people fully expect the Government to make a statement to clarify this matter and the whole Uighur affair in general. Former Premier Brown and Former Minister Burch are both now gone, the main contributors to our Constitution being violated, and yet this whole matter still lies in limbo.”n Useful websites: www.lawfareblog.com, www.immigration.gov.bm.
The latest leaked US military documents on Guantánamo Bay help dispel the myth that the Uighurs detained at the camp were ever “enemy combatants”, according to a US lawyer.
Sabin Willett, who represented the four former prisoners who came to Bermuda on June 11, 2009, told The Royal Gazette the leaks hindered his job of trying to persuade governments to take in prisoners still held there.
But he said there was a positive aspect to publication, since the files flagged up errors made by the US at Gitmo and the fact that many prisoners posed no threat to America.
“I have previously said it doesn't help people like me trying to arrange with governments solutions to the Guantánamo problem, when the foreign governments don't trust that their correspondence with the [US] State Department is going to be confidential. [But] the recent ones tend to show that they made a lot of mistakes at Guantánamo.”
Documents about all 779 detainees have been obtained by the New York Times and given to the UK-based Guardian newspaper this week. The NY Times says they didn't come from Wikileaks.
There is little new in them about Khalil Mamut, Abdulla Abdulqadir, Ablikim Turahun and Salahidin Abdulahad, who were given sanctuary here after being held at Guantánamo for seven years.
The men fled their homeland of Chinese Turkestan and went to Afghanistan where they stayed in a camp until 2001, when it was bombed by coalition forces.
Mr Willett said of his clients here: “These men have now been in Bermuda for almost two years. Lots of people know them. Lots of people have worked with them. They can draw their own conclusions about how silly some of that stuff may have been.”
He said there were “really seriously dangerous people” transferred to Guantánamo but none of them were Uighurs, yet myths about the former prisoners still persisted. “I think Wikileaks helps to defeat it,” he said. “I don't think there has ever been any indication that any of the Uighur folk were dangerous.”
In an article about the latest case published on the Lawfare blog last week, Mr Willett wrote: “Four of our Uighur clients might have found freedom here [in the States] in 2009 (and I rather think that if they had, once the shouting died down, the whole business of shuttering the prison would have become infinitely easier), but hysteria was whipped to a froth in the Old Dominion and the President flinched.
“When they went to Bermuda, a zealot e-mailed to say that they and I would have blood on our hands. Two years later, their hands are only callused (they work construction). They buckle their helmets and ride their scooters on the South Road to Paget Parish.
“They send me texts. One lives with his wife and expects a child; the others dream of wives and children. Bermuda seems to have survived. Why aren't we shamed by this?”
n Useful websites: www.guardian.co.uk, www.nytimes.com, www.uhrp.org (Uyghur Human Rights Project), www.state.gov (US State Department).
