4 Uighurs Freed From Guantanamo, Arrive in Bermuda

Journey Ends 7 Years of Captivity, 4 Years of Legal Challenges

HAMILTON, Bermuda, June 11, 2009 — Four Bingham clients, detained in Guantanamo Bay for seven years even after being cleared by the U.S. government as enemy combatants, were freed in Bermuda on June 11.

Huzaifa Parhat, Abdul Semet, Abdul Nasser and Jalal Jalaladin are ethnic Uighurs who fled Western China before the Afghanistan war. They were sold to U.S. forces by bounty hunters and transferred to the Guantanamo prison. Military authorities soon recognized the mistake, but fears of persecution prevented release to their home.

Three of the four were cleared for release by military review six years ago; the fourth in 2005. In 2008 they won legal challenges before U.S. courts. When the press reported that some of the 17 Uighurs might be released to the United States earlier this year, a political firestorm erupted in Congress, and release plans were stalled. 

Accompanied by Bingham partners Sabin Willett and Susan Baker Manning, the four disembarked from a charter aircraft at Bermuda’s L.F. Wade International Airport at about 6:00 am today. They will participate in Bermuda’s foreign guest worker program.

Speaking for the four, Nasser thanked the Bermudan government and people. “Growing up under Communism,” he said, “we always dreamed of living in peace and working in free society like this one. Today you have let freedom ring.”

Bingham first filed pro bono legal challenges for the men in 2005. Parhat won a release order from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in June 2008. In October 2008, District Judge Ricardo Urbina ordered Parhat and his Uighur companions released into the Washington, D.C., area. The order was stayed, and in February 2009 reversed. All 17 Uighurs have sought review of this order in the U.S. Supreme Court.

“We are deeply grateful to the government and the people of Bermuda for this act of grace,” Willett said. “Nations need good friends. When political opportunists blocked justice in our own country, Bermuda has reminded her old friend America what justice is.”

“These men should never have been at Guantanamo,” added Bingham partner Manning. “They were picked up by mistake. And when the U.S. government realized its mistake, it continued to imprison them merely because they are refugees. We are grateful to Bermuda for this humanitarian act."

“This outstanding development epitomizes the dedication by our lawyers and staff who devoted several years to helping these detainees,” said Bingham chairman Jay Zimmerman. “This accomplishment confirms the strength of our constitutional principles and Bingham’s abiding commitment to the due process of law.”

Today’s release brings to seven the number of men whose release Bingham has procured from the Guantanamo prison. Of the 13 Uighur men who remain, two are Bingham clients.

In addition to Willett and Manning, the Gitmo team includes partner Neil McGaraghan, of counsel Rheba Rutkowski, associates Jason Pinney, Catherine Murphy, Samuel Rowley and Francesca Lucia Micelli, and legal secretary Erika Tillery.