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guantanamo exdetainees seek asylum in albania
belit - 21.05.2006 18:43
there are five ex-detainees from guantanamo bay applied for asylum status in albania. they are from a muslim minority group in china. this interview was made in albania on the road from Tirana to Shkoder.
 video
in case you can not download the video file this is the text of the interview;)
-Can you tell us about the chinese ex-detainees from guantanamo bay?
-There are 5 people who got the permission to come to albania, they were in guantanamo, they lived in china, but they are not chineese. They were muslim minorities in the western part of china. They can not go back to their country, once they were declared innocent by the american government after four years being in prison. Because they will be prosecuted in their own country. And the american government did not know where to send them. So they thought about albania. Because albania is part of the coalition against the war on terror. And of course albania could not refuse this favour. So currently there are five men who are totally isolated. They are living in a shelter for asylum seekers. So these five men are isolated, they have no way of communication, no one in the country knows their language, one of them knows very little english, very very little english. Another one knows very very little chineese. So the government sent the chineese translator but it didnt work out. They were very young, the youngest was 23, so i guess when he was taken to guantanamo he was 19. and the others are 31-32, they all had families back home. Apparently they did not wanted to stay in albania, because apparently there is no community of their population here. And they are looking for refugee status in albania, so that they can go to germany where there is community of people from the area they came from. And they think of starting a life over. They were offered a possibility to stay here but they did not want to. Because they felt that they will not, never start a good life here. Especially after all they went through.
-İf they take a refugee status in albania, they will go and live in germany.?
-Yes, if they take a refugee status in albania, they can leave the country and go whereever they want except for china off course. This should take at least three months if everything goes right. But they are also worried because in the shelter they are staying in there are people, families that are there for one year or more. So they are really afraid that they will have the same bug. But according to the director of the center, he said that those people have different cases and those five men should be able to get their citizenship the minimum time possible. And then they will be free to move. Apparently they are not allowed. Usually as soon as they fill out the first phase of the application they are free to move out of their shelter and go into the city, but them, the five of them are not allowed to apparently because the government says that ther eis no data about who these people really are. So they dont know anything about them, but off course they accepted them and think they are not dangerous. But still they said many times that they need additional data about these people. Data about why they can not go to their own country , it is not a very well known area and not a very well known case lets say.
-And they cant go to usa?
-No, the american government after keeping them for four years found out that tey were innocent. But they could not release them and have them settled in USA. This is not because any legal things but because i suppose it would be strange for americans to see that people from guantanamo can live among them. Because guantanamo is such a myth now, 'in there there are dangerous terrorists in the world'. So american government can not allow such uncovering that some people are innocent there. That they are being kept there under false accusations.
-Is albanian law of asylum seekers different from others? Why did they choose albania but not any other country?
-İ dont think that these five men chose albania i think the american government looked for a country to place them. Or maybe their lawyer, the firm that is representing them looked for a place where it is possible for them to come and stay. İ dont think albanian law is different but the relationship of albania with USA might be different.
-What do you think what will happen? What do you expect from this case?
-İ hope that they will not be kept in that shelter for a long time. İ hope that they have a good life either here or whereever they choose to go. İ hope the process of their status finishes as soon as possible.
-Did such things happen in albania before?
-Apparently in albania there are many cases of asylum seekers, the director of the center was telling me that there are many indians who come to albania and also chineese from iran,and lots of other countries but this was specific because this was a different case. And these people dont intend to come and live in albania, they usually get stuck in albania, they always aim for western countries.
-Where is the lawyer from?
-He worked in boston, he is from a very large law firm, i dont remember the name but irish, their firm now working with these issues on a general basis, they took this case because the guantanamo has a bad reputation in us right now. They were generally very concerned about the innocent people being kept there. There are also 17 other people from these minorities who are still in guantanamo and probably they will also come to Albania. Maybe just a bridge to go to another country.
-The detainees found the lawyer or how ?
-No, i think the law firm found out about these men who are inocent but were still being kept in guantanamo because the USA government didnt know where to place them. They filed a suit, the firm itself initiated. They filed a suit about these people being held who are innocent, and now i guess they are trying to find solutions for each of them.
-How are you involved in this?
-İ work for a movement in albania called mjaft , we helped the lawyer of these five men to get acquinted with the situation and set some meetings for him with people responsible and ministry of interior relations in albania, just like a guide in the country.
-Does mjaft do such things?
-İt was not a formal thing, not gonna be in our press release or somewhere. İt is something that we are glad to be helpful.
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