Palau news stories on Newser

6 Gitmo Uighurs Arrive in Palau

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 07:56:27 CST

Six Chinese Muslims newly released from Guantanamo Bay traded life behind bars today for rooms with ocean view in the tiny Pacific nation of Palau. The Uighurs, in US custody since 2001, were met at the airport in the middle of the night by President Johnson Toribiong and taken to...

Supreme Court Takes Uighurs' Case

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:00:00 CDT

The Supreme Court will hear a new case about the rights of Guantanamo detainees, this time involving prisoners who remain in custody even after the Pentagon determines they're not a threat to the United States, the court said today. Last year, the court said in a 5-4 ruling that federal...

Uighur Won't Leave Brother at Gitmo—So He's Staying

Harry Kimball — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:12:11 CDT

Bahtiyar Mahnut, a Chinese Uighur detainee at Guantanamo Bay, is guilty of no crime. In fact, he’s free to leave and even has an offer of sanctuary from the island nation of Palau, like all of his compatriots save one. And that one, his brother Arkin, is why he’s staying,...

Palau Is Taking Gitmo Detainees. So What's Palau?

Drew Nelles — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 17:25:10 CDT

When the island nation of Palau agreed to help President Obama close Gitmo by taking in 13 detainees, few Americans had heard of the tiny country. But the US and Palau share a close bond, NPR reports. “It’s a small island nation, but its status as a sovereign nation depends...

Five Gitmo Uighurs to Palau: Thanks, but No Thanks

Harry Kimball — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:01:37 CDT

Palau’s president Johnson Toribiong today said five of the 13 Uighurs held at Guantanamo Bay and set to be resettled in his country don't want to go, AFP reports. “A handful may not come,” he said. A recent delegation from the country to Gitmo met with just eight of the...

Palau's Prez Makes Moral Call to Take in Detainees

Ambreen Ali — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 06:38:40 CDT

That Palau's president was once a defense lawyer may explain why he risked upsetting his island's 20,000 residents and their peaceful isolation from the world to take in 13 former Guantanamo detainees. "They should be presumed innocent because no one has proven them guilty," newly elected Johnson Toribiong told...

4 Chinese Gitmo Detainees Freed to Bermuda

Matt Cantor — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 08:45:03 CDT

Four Chinese Muslims inmates from Guantanamo have been released in Bermuda in the first successful US resettlement of Uighurs since 2006, the AP reports. The disposition of 13 others is unclear, according to the Miami Herald, but Palau has offered to accept them, a move China opposes. Beijing has called...

Palau to Take Gitmo's Chinese Detainees

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 08:41:39 CDT

Palau agreed to accept 17 Chinese Muslims who have languished in legal limbo at Guantanamo Bay, indicating a resolution to one of the thorniest issues facing the Obama administration's decision to close the prison camp. The announcement, which would clear the last of the Uighurs from the camp, was a...

US Offers $200M to Send Gitmo Inmates to South Pacific

Harry Kimball — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:50:02 CDT

The US wants to resettle Uighur detainees held at Guantanamo Bay on the Pacific island nation of Palau, the AP reports. Palau, whose eight main islands lie 500 miles east of the Philippines, has strong ties to the US and depends on it for aid and protection. Daniel Fried, the...