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5 Guantanamo Uighurs Baffled in Albania
United Press International
May 24, 2006
TIRANA, Albania, May 24 (UPI) -- Five Chinese minority Uighurs cleared of wrongdoing and released from the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are living in isolation in Albania.
The five men spent 4 1/2 years at Guantanamo, the last year living as stateless innocents, as the U.S. government suspected they would be executed if returned to China.
Despite having Muslim Uighur communities of their own, the United States, Canada and several western European countries declined accepting the men, and only predominantly Muslim Albania would.
Speaking to ABC News there, weeks after arriving, group spokesman Abu Bakkir Qassim said while the men were no longer in cells, they felt isolated in a foreign culture and apart from their families in China.
Qassim said anger wasn't the accurate word to describe his feelings for the United States for his lengthy detention and relocation.
"We look up to the United States as a source of hope, inspiration for our liberty," he said. "And because of that image that we hold of the United States and what we have experienced in Guantanamo, we feel extremely disappointed."
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