WASHINGTON: The Supreme Court Tuesday agreed to hear a plea for freedom from Chinese Muslim Uighurs held in Guantanamo Bay despite being cleared of all charges, who argue they should be released in the United States.
The drawn-out case comes after a federal judge last year ordered that the men should be released onto US soil where families from the large Uighur community are willing to host them.
But that decision was overturned on appeal, pushing their lawyers to turn to the Supreme Court in a bid to free the 13 men, who hail from the Uighur Muslim minority in China's remote Xinjiang region.
The men, who have been held on the US military base in Cuba for more than seven years, were among 22 Uighurs living in a self-contained camp in Afghanistan when the US-led invasion of the country began in October 2001.
Amid US administration fears that they face persecution if returned to China, five were freed in 2006 and sent to Albania, and four have been resettled in Bermuda.
Another six have accepted to go to the Pacific island nation of Palau, but are still waiting to be transferred from Guantanamo. But all 13 still remaining in the jail contend they should be released in the United States.
"All counsel involved are very pleased that the court has taken up the case," lawyer George Clarke told media.
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