Innocent Ethnic Uighurs In Guantanamo Bay

There are currently seventeen Uighurs in Guantanamo Bay who have been told that they would all be freed (in 2004) and that they are innocent.

"We fail to know why we are still in jail here," [Abdulghappar] Turkistani says...

"We are still in hope that the US government will free us soon and send us to a safe place."

So if they're innocent, why are they still imprisoned?

American officials have acknowledged that while they will not be pressing charges against the 17 Uighurs, they cannot be sent back to China because they are likely to face persecution.

Therefore, the US government is keeping them in small, insanitary cells against their wishes for twenty-two hours a day.

"Being away from family, away from our homeland... being forbidden from the natural sunlight, natural air, being surrounded with a metal box all around is not suitable for a human being," Turkistani wrote.

Al Jazeera