Four Gitmo detainees resettled in Bermuda

updated 7:04 p.m. ET June 11, 2009

HAMILTON, Bermuda - Four Guantanamo detainees from arid, predominantly Muslim western China were transferred to this very proper British colony Thursday, marking a bizarre new chapter in their odyssey.

Freed after being locked up seven years, the four men were given ties during their flight to the island and their lawyers gave quick lessons in how to knot them. They kept a low profile after landing and declined to talk with journalists.

They arrived just as islanders were starting to celebrate Bermuda's 400th year of settlement. But Washington's surprise announcement of the transfer set off grumbling by some islanders, and the colonial rulers in London bristled over not being told ahead of time.

Putting a cloud over the deal, Britain's government said it was studying whether to allow Bermuda Premier Ewart Brown to go ahead with his plan to take in the men as refugees. Brown said the men eventually would be permitted to pursue citizenship and would have the right to work, travel and "potentially settle elsewhere."

The four previously had been expected to join 13 other Chinese Muslims, known as Uighurs, that the Pacific island nation of Palau has just agreed to take in from Guantanamo over the strong objections of China, which calls them terrorists.

The 17 were among Uighurs detained in Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2001, but had been in legal limbo since American authorities decided they were not enemy combatants or a danger to the U.S. and should be let go.

Lawmakers in Congress objected to any Uighurs being released in the U.S., and few other nations showed any interest in accepting them. Albania took in a few in 2006.

China demands the Uighurs be sent home for trial, but U.S. officials have said they fear the men would be executed if they returned to China.

Britain miffed
Brown said he had no security concerns because the men were cleared by U.S. courts. But Britain, which handles Bermuda's defense, security and foreign affairs, expressed displeasure at the deal.

The British Foreign Office complained that Bermuda's leaders failed to consult "whether this falls within their competence or is a security issue for which the Bermuda government do not have delegated responsibility."

At the State Department, spokesman Ian Kelly said Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton discussed the transfer with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Thursday.

The U.S. is "confident that we can work these things through with the government of (Britain)," he said.

Video   Palua gets cash, detainees June 10: The Pacific island nation of Palau has tentatively agreed to take 17 Chinese Muslim detainees from Gitmo. NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reports. MSNBC

Brown insisted that accepting the Uighurs was "the right thing to do." But he indicated at a news conference that he had an uncomfortable conversation with British Gov. Richard Gozney over the transfer.

"He is seeking to further assess the ramifications of this move before allowing the government of Bermuda to fully implement this action," Brown said. "Our colonial relationship with the United Kingdom certainly gives him license to do so."

Gozney said the transfer was done without Britain's permission and raised foreign policy and security questions.

"We will now need to assess these four individuals," Gozney said. "We were only told this morning."

Strangers in a strange land
The four Uighurs, who come from a vast, arid territory that borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, found themselves in a new, strange land. Hamilton, the capital, boasts pastel Victorian buildings along narrow streets that are patrolled by police in white tunics.

The former prisoners kept to themselves after arriving, releasing a brief statement.

"Growing up under communism we always dreamed of living in peace and working in free society like this one. Today you have let freedom ring," former detainee Abdul Nasser said in the statement issued by his lawyers.

Before the plane landed, attorneys lent the Uighurs their cell phones so they could call friends and family.

"I can't describe to you in words how overjoyed these men are," lawyer Susan Manning told The Associated Press by phone. "They have enormous grins as they're talking to their families."

The Uighurs were eager to look around and explore where they would live, she said. Two of them speak some English, and they will likely teach the other two, Manning said.

They spent years in the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo for suspected Taliban and al-Qaida figures, and didn't even know where Bermuda was.

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