Six Uighurs who were transferred to the island of Palau as a temporary solution in 2009 told a Toronto Star reporter in February that they’ve been given no hope of a permanent home as U.S. support to the impoverished nation for taking the detainees has run out.
The Chinese Muslims can’t go home for fear of what the People’s Republic would do to them, but they’re also not allowed passports to leave the island.
Feinstein noted that the desk of the State Department’s Special Envoy for the Closure of Guantanamo, who was helping the Uighurs, has been cleared out and the Obama administration has no intention of filling Ambassador Daniel Fried’s post.
“I urge the administration to fill this vacant position or to appoint another senior Administration official with the specific responsibility to achieve the conditions necessary to close Guantanamo,” she wrote.
