Asylum for Uighurs

last updated 8 January 2015

Tirana, Albania

China is demanding that Albania return five Chinese nationals who were recently released from Guantánamo Bay. The five are ethnic Uighurs, an oppressed Muslim tribe in northwestern China that has been fighting for minority rights. The U.S. decided two years ago to release all 22 Uighurs held in Gitmo. American officials didn’t want to repatriate them to China, where they would likely face torture as separatists. But no country would welcome them. Finally, last week, Albania—a mostly Muslim, former communist country—offered asylum to five of the men. China called the move mercenary. “All the countries in the world are reluctant to take in these hot potatoes,” China’s Qingnian Cankao said. “Albania is seeking to harvest opportunities from the big American tree.”