Former Guantanamo detainee writes to Obama from Albania

TIRANA, March 30 – A former Chinese Muslim detainee at Guantanamo Bay, known as a Uighur, who now lives in Albania, sent a letter to US President Barack Obama asking him to release his 17 compatriots still being held in the prison and let them live in the United States.
Sabin Willet, the lawyer representing former detainee Abu Bakker Qassim, wrote to the president on March 24 and also sent the letter, according to American press.
“Seventeen of my brothers remain in that prison today. Please end their suffering soon,” Abu Bakker wrote.
Obama has announced his intention to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center, but the fate of the remaining 240 detainees remains uncertain.
“I congratulate you for that and for your historic election. But many months have passed,” Abu Bakker wrote.
“I hope that one day soon your government and countrymen will meet our 17 brothers. Maybe when that day comes there would be hope that we might come to America too.”
The Uighurs remaining at Guantanamo are no longer regarded as enemy combatants by the United States. But U.S. authorities have rejected calls by China to return the detainees, citing fears of persecution.
Albania accepted five Uighur detainees in 2006 but has balked at taking others, partly due to concern about diplomatic repercussions from China.
A Swedish immigration court initially granted asylum to one of the men, but the Swedish migration board is now appealing the decision to a higher court. Adil Hakimjan applied for asylum in Sweden because his sister lives there.
Uighurs are from Xinjiang, an isolated region that borders Afghanistan, Pakistan and six Central Asian nations. They say they have been repressed by the Chinese government. China has long said that insurgents are leading an Islamic separatist movement in Xinjiang.
The Uighur detainees taken to Guantanamo were captured in Pakistan and Afghanistan in 2001.
Albania, one of Europe’s poorest countries, has offered some assistance to the Uighurs in the form of jobs, mosques and help learning the local language.
They remain cut off from their families in China, Abu Bakker wrote.
“I think about the family which perhaps I will never see again and I resolve not to forget my vow, seven years ago, to be their hero,” he wrote.
“Life is very hard, and our future still seems far away.”