Federal Judge Orders Release Of 17 From Guantanamo

October 8, 2008 7:13 a.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Judge Ricardo Urbina of the Federal District Court ordered Tuesday the release of 17 members of the Uighur Muslim minority detained at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

The order to bring to his courtroom the 17 on Friday is a landmark ruling as it is the first after seven years of legal questions over the federal government's detention policies. Urbina said the 17 men did not fight the U.S. and did not pose as security threat. His decision is considered a setback for the Bush administration which had maintained courts did not have the power to release Guantanamo inmates.

While the federal government had ceased trying to prove the Uighurs were enemy combatants, it tried to stop the 17 from being released into the U.S. based on the Uighurs admission they received weapons training in Afghanistan when the Sept. 11, 2001 attack took place.

White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said the federal government disagreed with Urbina's decision because it would be a precedent for the over 200 other detainees at the Cuban prison facility. Lawyers from the Department of Justice said they plan to file an emergency application Tuesday night for a stay from Urbina's ruling.

Urbina lamented the delay the emergency application will cause. He pointed out, quoted by the Washington Post, "The Constitution prohibits indefinite detention without cause, the government's continue detention of the (detainees) is unlawful."