Guantanamo Bay release overturned
Published:Wednesday | February 18, 2009 | 5:19 PM
A US federal appeal court has overturned a ruling that would have released 17 Guantanamo Bay detainees.
A judge ruled last year that the 17 Chinese Muslims were no longer enemy fighters and should be released into the US.
The men have been detained since their arrest in Afghanistan in 2001.
China has requested their return, but the US will not send them home for fear they will be persecuted.
China wants to put the men on trial for alleged separatist activities and said any country that takes them in would be harbouring terrorists.
No other country has since agreed to take the men.
The court’s ruling puts a further obstacle in the way of President Barack Obama\'s bid to close the Guantanamo Bay prison by early next year.
There are approximately 250 detainees still at the prison.