New York Post publishes interview with Uighur men
Royal Gazete, 1 October 2012
The four Uighurs brought to Bermuda three years ago from Guantánamo Bay are in the headlines again after an interview with the New York Post.
In an article by Maureen Callahan, the men say they feel trapped in Bermuda without passports and with limited options.
Abdullah Abdulqadir told the newspaper: “I’m not Bermudian, and I can’t work anywhere.
“Even my son has no nationality on his birth certificate, and I don’t know why.”
The four men, from Chinese Turkestan, had fled their country fearing persecution.
They were captured by American forces in Pakistan and taken to the infamous Guantánamo Bay prison in the wake of September 11.
But in 2008, after years of imprisonment, the US Government determined that they were not enemy combatants.
Premier Dr Ewart Brown brought the men to the Island in June of 2009 following secret negotiations with the US.
The move, which Dr Brown described as a humanitarian gesture, sparked headlines around the world, with the British Government saying that they should have been consulted.
US ambassador Daniel Fried said that there was no quid quo pro for Bermuda, with Bermuda receiving only a minimal amount to defray the cost of transportation.
The New York Post writes that all of the four are now married, and three of them are fathers.
Mr Abdulqadir said he met his wife on Facebook, while the others met their wives through online matchmaking.
And while three of the four men said they have jobs doing manual labour and often work more than 12-hours a day, they told the Post they are struggling to make ends meet.
“I can’t pay my rent,” Mr Abdulqadir told the Post. “Now my wife and my baby don’t have health insurance. I can’t cover it. I’d need to pay half of what I make.”
Useful website: www.nypost.com