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5 Ex-Guantanamo Prisoners From China Receive Asylum in Albania
Llazar Semini
Associated Press
July 26, 2006
TIRANA, Albania (AP) - Five Chinese Muslims released from the U.S. prison at GuantanamoBay have received asylum in Albania, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday.
A senior ministry official, who declined to be named, confirmed that Albania had granted asylum on July 13 to the five Uighurs, who are sheltering at a refugee center in Tirana.
They were brought to Albania May 5 after U.S. authorities said they posed no terrorist threat to the U.S. but might face persecution if returned to China.
Lawyers for the five Chinese Muslims have said their clients were hoping to find another host country where it would be easier for them to integrate.
U.S. forces detained the five Uighurs during the invasion of Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
China has demanded the five be returned, saying they are suspected of having links to the East Turkestan Islamic Movement -- which it accuses of waging a violent separatist campaign in China's northwestern Muslim region of Xinjiang -- and of being close to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terror network.
Albania has said U.S. officials assured them the men had no terror links, and urged China to present evidence for its suspicions.
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