ATLANTA, (Reuters) – Bermuda’s decision to grant asylum to four Chinese detainees from Guantanamo Bay sparked a political and diplomatic furor yesterday on the wealthy Atlantic island.
Premier Ewart Brown defended the decision to take the men, part of a group of 17 ethnic Uighurs held at the U.S. military prison in Cuba, on humanitarian grounds and said it was taken in the context of strong relations between Bermuda and the United States.
The men arrived in Bermuda, Britain’s oldest and most populous remaining colony, yesterday after spending seven years at Guantanamo before being cleared by U.S. authorities as terrorism suspects.
They were freed as part of a U.S. government plan to close the controversial prison camp but China reiterated its demand that they be repatriated and said it opposed any third country accepting them.
“Those of us in leadership have a common understanding of the need to make tough decisions and to sometimes make them in spite of their unpopularity; simply because it is the right thing to do,” Brown said in a statement carried by Bermuda’s Royal Gazette newspaper.
Brown also appeared to leave the door open to a reversal of the decision by Britain, which has expressed concerns about the move and said it was not consulted in advance.
Britain says it will help Bermuda conduct a security assessment of the four men, who do not have travel documents and cannot leave the British overseas territory.
“This fast-moving situation now rests at Government House and we await a decision. In many respects, the international community awaits a decision,” Brown said.
Bermuda’s opposition party, the United Bermuda Party, condemned what it said was a high-handed move that could potentially endanger national security.
“We are truly outraged by the unilateral decision displayed by what we see as an autocratic leader (Brown) who has failed to consult the people of this country on matters of national security,” said Shawn Crockwell, shadow minister for immigration and labor.
The tropical Pacific island nation of Palau said on Wednesday it had agreed to temporarily accept other Uighur detainees.
Bermuda, with a population of about 68,000, lies around 620 miles (990 km) east of the U.S. state of North Carolina. The country has an Islamic center and several mosques, of possible interest to the freed detainees who are Muslim.