Posted on 06/11/2009 7:45:32 AM PDT by BlackSeal
Breaking News update: Four Chinese Muslims settled in Bermuda from Guantanamo Bay
Four Chinese Muslim detainees who had been held at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility have been resettled in Bermuda.
Premier Dr. Ewart Brown made the announcement this morning at a press conference and stressed that the men were innocent.
The four men —aged 25 to 35— are Chinese Muslims called Uighurs and arrived by air last night. They will be given the opportunity to get Bermudian status.
Dr. Brown said: “These men are landed in Bermuda in the short term provided with the opportunity to become naturalised citizens and therefore afforded the right to travel and leave Bermuda potentially settling elsewhere.”
Today one of the men, Abdul Nasser, issued a statement through his lawyers, saying: “Growing up under communism we always dreamed of living in peace and working in free society like this one. Today you have let freedom ring.”
The Obama administration has been under pressure to resettle the detainees, as it tries to fulfill its promise to close the controversial prison for foreign terrorism suspects on the U.S. naval base in Cuba.
The U.S. government had determined that the Chinese Muslims at Guantanamo 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 Guantanamo.
Today's announcement comes one day after the tropical Pacific Island nation of Palau agreed to temporarily take in 17 of the Uighur detainees, which the U.S. government worries may face persecution if they are returned to China.
Dr. Brown said the decision to give the men asylum began during talks in Washington DC last month.
Minister of Home Affairs David Burch told the media that the men were cleared of terrorism allegations in a US court and sat in the prison as innocent men.
“We are people who care and are people who help others and certainly in this case that is practically what we are doing,” he said.
Asked about their mental state, Senator Burch said: “Their mental state appears to be quite fine.” He said they talked the whole flight to Bermuda excited about coming to the Island."
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in a written statement: “By helping accomplish the President's objective of closing Guantanamo, 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.”
U.S. 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 U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss negotiations between the U.S and Bermuda, said the four would not be allowed to travel to the United States without prior approval from American authorities.
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.
* For more on this story see updates on this website.
* What do you think? Email news@royalgazette.bm
Gotta be satire. Are you sure this item isn’t from ScrappleFace?
This is just so stupid on so many counts ...
Did we supply them with sun screen and a beach umbrella? A beach house?
WAIT JUST A BLAST BLAST BLAST minute. WHY THE FBLAST ARE WE GIVING THIS NATION $200million IF THEY AREN'T EVEN GOING TO STAY THERE??!!!!
I’m still having a hard time understanding why they were innocent? They weren’t in Afghanistan on vacation, they were training in terrorist training camps.
Maybe the unemployed will be motivated to find a new line of work.
They’ve been Mid Ocean Club members for years. The pro shop stocks their favorite brand of ball marker. It just seemed like the right time to kick back and hunker down in Tuckers Town.
It’s not satire. Fox reported this on the Fox and Friends show. They also said something about $200 million coming from the Zero administration for the resettlement.
$50 million apiece to resettle them? It would seem that Muslim terrorism conducted against the United States is becoming a very profitable business.
I cannot help but to wonder what role yesterdays news had to play.
This is from The Royal Gazette just a day ago: http://www.theroyalgazette.com/siftology.royalgazette/Article/article.jsp?articleId=7d9643e30030000
OECD moves Bermuda to 'white list'
Bermuda is no longer officially regarded as a tax haven.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said yesterday it had promoted the Island from its “grey list” to the “white list” of countries ranked by their progress on meeting international tax transparency standards.
The OECD announcement came shortly after Finance Minister Paula Cox and Netherlands Deputy Minister Jon Kees de Jager signed the Island’s 12th tax information exchange agreement (TIEA) at the Dutch embassy in London.
Twelve TIEAs is the qualifying standard to reach the “white list” of countries considered to have implemented international standards of tax transparency.
Jeffrey Owens, director of the OECD’s Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, said the 12th TIEA was a “very significant development” for Bermuda.
“When we first issued the Progress Report, Bermuda had only three agreements but it has been able to rapidly implement the standard by signing nine agreements in two months,” Mr. Owens said.
Minister Cox said: “We shall continue to build upon our long standing position of transparency and cooperation which has, through the years, differentiated Bermuda from other jurisdictions.”
Bermuda has concluded negotiations on three more TIEAs, with Germany, Mexico and Canada, which are expected to be signed later this year.
* See tomorrow’s business section for the full story.
What completely outrages myself is that these former Gitmo detainees are going to be given status! I feel these people forfeited their lives when they went to Afghanistan and joined those camps! They knew full well what they were doing. Many many fine outstanding guest workers who have been on this island for many years will never ever have so much as the inkling of opportunity granted to them to become permanent residents of this island. Even in marriage a spouse of a Bermudian is not even given the opportunity to become a resident of these islands (gaining "status") until a full 10 years of marriage has passed!
Yet, these "former terrorists" are granted it over night in a political bargain. Unbelievable.
No more Bermuda vacations.
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