Uighur detainees at Gitmo and their lawyers frustrated with proceedings

Three Uighurs who are detained at Guantanamo Bay without any charge have applied for asylum in Canada but the processing time of their requests seems to be too long to be acceptable.

For six years, the Uighurs have been living in an indeterminate state as there is no way they can go back to China and the US will not resettle these men. According to a source from within the American administration, officials from Canada requested a consular access to the concerned men this spring. The source said that the US government gave a positive response as asked for additional information in order to arrange their visit to the detention facility.

However, the Canadians did not responded further, the source said.

On the other side, Eric Tirschwell, an attorney representing to of the Uighurs, said that he was informed by the Canadian officials that their immigration officer based in Jamaica was not permitted to visit Guantanamo.

Eric said in an interview that his clients would love to meet the Canadian immigration officials and as per their understanding, the US government would not disallow them from visiting.

The lawyer of the third man, George Clarke, spoke fearlessly and said he can guarantee that the US State Department will never block the Canadian from accessing Guantanamo in any way, adding that he would stake everything on what he said.

A spokesperson of the Immigration Minister of Canada, Jason Kenney, declined to comment upon the details of the case.