Palau Uighurs to Australia

The Australian newspaper is reporting that three of the Guantanamo Uighurs sent to Palau from Guantanamo have applied for Australian residency permits:

THREE Chinese Uighurs who were for years detained as terrorists at the US's Guantanamo Bay have applied to come to Australia with their families.

Palau's Minister for State Victor Yano said the three men had lodged Australian residency applications with the Australian high commissioner in Fiji, where visa applications from Palau are processed. "We hope that they can be resettled as soon as possible," Mr Yano said, "because come November it will be two years." Palau agreed to take the Uighurs, who are from China's mainly Muslim province of Xinjiang, following a request from the US government, which has made emptying the facility at Guantanamo Bay a policy priority. But the arrangement was supposed to be temporary, with Washington promising to find a more durable outcome for the men, who were cleared for release by the US military.

Message to the Australian government: If you ever develop the spine to stand up to China and take some Uighurs, Sabin Willett and the State Department still have five for you.