Judge orders Chinese Muslims released from Guantanamo in US

Judge orders Chinese Muslims released from Guantanamo in US

A US judge has for the first time ordered the controversial release of Guantanamo Bay detainees in the United States in a rebuke to the Bush administration.

District Judge Ricardo Urbina ordered that 17 Chinese Muslims should be freed by Friday. He said there was no evidence the detainees, who have been held at Guantanamo for nearly seven years, were "enemy combatants" or a security risk, and that the US Constitution prohibits indefinite detention without cause. Government lawyers said they would appeal against the ruling.