A federal judge rules that seven Chinese Uighurs, not deemed enemy combatants, should simply be released from Gitmo immediately, where they have been detained as innocents for seven years, and be allowed to stay in the US. The Bush administration is resisting, of course. But the judge is adamant that the constitution come before any administration:
The ruling, handed down by Federal District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina, marked the first time that any United States court rejected government arguments and ordered the release of detainees from Guantánamo Bay, an American naval base in Cuba, since the detention center there opened in 2002.
Judge Urbina said that the detention of the 17 prisoners members of the Uighur ethnic group, a restive Muslim minority in western China was unlawful, noting that the Constitution prohibits indefinite imprisonment without charges.
“I think the moment has arrived for the court to shine the light of constitutionality on the reasons for the detention,” he said.
They should be free by tomorrow at 10 am.