Appeals Court Blocks Release of Chinese Muslims From Gitmo
The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has halted the release of 17 Chinese Muslims from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay.
The three-judge panel wants the release blocked until it hears more legal arguments Nov. 24, the Washington Post reports.
On Oct. 7, U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina ordered the government to release the men. The same three-judge panel issued a temporary stay of that order the next day. The latest order holds until the court has a chance to make a ruling.
Urbina ruled the Constitution bars the government from holding the men indefinitely since the government no longer considers them enemy combatants. The men cannot be sent to China because China considers them terrorists and might torture them.
The detainees, known as Uighurs, support an independent homeland from China.
The government maintains it needs to hold them until adequate homes can be found.
