Four Uighur refugees, Abdullah Abdulqadir, Salahidin Abdulahat, Khalil Mamut, and Abilikim Turahun, have been given British Overseas Territories Citizenship nine years after a secret deal was brokered with the United States to grant them asylum in Bermuda.
The move was welcomed by Dr Ewart Brown, the former Premier, who arranged their transfer to Bermuda.
The men are part of a Muslim ethnic minority group originally from Western China and were held by the US as suspected terrorists for seven years before they were cleared. They were given asylum in June 2009 by the then government of Bermuda in direct consultation with the US, however failure to involve the Foreign and Commonwealth Office triggered a diplomatic spat as Britain remains responsible for the island’s international affairs.
A spokesperson from the home affairs ministry has confirmed that the former Guantánamo Bay detainees have been made British Overseas Territory Citizens of Bermuda. This decision means that the men are, inter alia, eligible to receive passports, and brings to an end the limbo in which they and their families have been kept.
