Judge Wants an Explanation on Detainees

A federal judge called on the Bush administration Thursday to explain what it was doing about two men being detained at Guantanamo Bay prison despite the military’s conclusion that they were not “enemy combatants.”

Justice Department lawyer Terry Henry said the two Chinese Muslims, in custody for almost four years, would be held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba until the U.S. government found a country to send them to.

The detainees, members of China’s Uighur ethnic minority, reportedly fear persecution in their homeland.

“We can continue to hold them as long as it takes,” Henry told U.S. District Judge James Robertson.

The judge suggested that the improved conditions of a renovated section of Guantanamo Bay -- housing 10 detainees and equipped with videogames, a microwave, ice cream and a soccer field -- were not sufficient. All 10 have been found not to be enemy combatants.

The 10 are “free to roam 24/7” at Camp Iguana in Guantanamo Bay, Henry told the judge.

The “big picture,” Robertson responded, is that almost six months have passed since the two detainees were found not to be enemy combatants.

A’Del Abdu Al-Hakim and Abu Baker Qassim were captured in Pakistan as they fled a Taliban military training camp near Tora Bora, Afghanistan, in 2001.

They say they are deeply opposed to the government of China and have no animosity toward the United States.

Hakim has said representatives of the Chinese government tried to interrogate him at Guantanamo Bay, telling him he was lucky the Pakistanis had turned him over to the Americans rather than to the Chinese.

The U.S. government has said it has been unable to find a country that will accept the Uighurs. In a closed session, the federal attorney described for the judge the diplomatic efforts the United States has undertaken to place the prisoners.

Requests from a lawyer for the two, Sabin Willett, could result in the prisoners’ interim release into the United States. A suburban Washington family has offered to take them in.

Robertson took no immediate action on Willett’s request.