Pacific Island Takes Some Guantanamo Detainees

from National Public Radio

The remote Pacific island of Palau may be the future home for 17 ethnic Uighur Chinese detainees from Guantanamo Bay who were picked up in Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2001.

The U.S. determined they were not "enemy combatants" and decided to release them. The U.S. fears they will be imprisoned or executed if returned to China.

Palau's President Johnson Toribiong says it's not clear right now whether the detainees will be going to his island.

"We still have to hear from the United States government," he says. "We gave them the green light, but so far no response yet."

Broadcast Dates

• All Things Considered, June 11, 2009