folo

We’ve talked here for months about the 17 Uighurs (WEE-gurs) held by the Bush administration without valid cause for seven years in Guantánamo. This afternoon, WaPo reports:

A federal judge today ordered that 17 Chinese Muslims held at the Guantanamo Bay military prison be released into the United States by Friday, agreeing with the detainees’ attorneys that the Constitution bars holding the men indefinitely without cause.

It was the first time that a U.S. court has ordered the release of a Guantanamo detainee, and the first time that a foreign national held there has been ordered brought to the United States.

U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina issued the landmark ruling in the case of a small band of captives, known as Uighurs, who have been held at Guantanamo for nearly seven years and are no longer considered enemy combatants by the U.S. government.

At a hearing packed with Uighurs who live in the Washington area, Urbina rejected government arguments that he had no authority to order the men’s release. He said he had such authority because the men were being held indefinitely and it was the only remedy available. He cited a June decision by an appellate court that found evidence against the Uighurs to be unreliable.

Urbina said in court that he ordered the release “because the Constitution prohibits indefinite detention without cause.” He added, “The separation of powers do not trump” the prohibition against holding people indefinitely without trial.

A government appeal of the decision is likely. …

hilzoy, who’s also been following the case closely, has just posted, concluding:

… One might think that this would be the least we could do: we have, after all, robbed them of nearly seven years of their lives, and kept them in absolutely inhumane conditions. But our government has consistently refused to do this, to their shame and ours.

Luckily, some of our citizens don’t take the same narrow view of our moral obligations that our government does:

“Religious and community leaders from both Tallahassee, Florida and the Washington D.C. area offered to the court detailed plans for the support of the men, from housing and counseling to employment and car insurance. In this stunning show of goodwill and solidarity, 20 leaders from faith-based communities in Tallahassee, Florida, and a network of refugee resettlement agencies and other religious groups, have pledged to help settle the men in local communities. Many members of the Uighur community came to court today to lend support.”

Good for them. Good for the judicial system. Shame on our government, which preferred compounding a deep injustice to making things right. And may the appeals process on this and all similar cases be as brief as they can possibly be.

Standing Os for Judge Urbino, my fellow Floridians, and the D.C.-area leaders who today refresh our national honor. And of course I join hilzoy’s wish for appellate promptness.