National

Regional

Taiwan, HK, Macao

Special Coverage

Focus

Society

Profiles

China urges return of Gitmo inmates

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-01-22 21:29

BEIJING -- China on Thursday called for the early repatriation of Chinese terrorist suspects from the United States' Guantanamo prison.

Activists from human-rights group Amnesty International stage a protest against Guantanamo Bay in Vienna. China on Thursday called for the early repatriation of Chinese terrorist suspects from the United States' Guantanamo prison. [Agencies]

"We oppose other nations taking these suspects and they should be repatriated to China immediately to be dealt with by the Chinese law, " said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu at a regular press briefing.

Related readings:  Obama to sign order shutting Gitmo in a year  Judge OKs 1st suspension in Gitmo cases  9/11 suspects declare guilt at Gitmo war court  Gitmo war court back for what may be last session

She said the 17 suspected Chinese terrorists are members of the East Turkistan Islamic Movement, which has been listed as a terrorist organization by the United Nations Security Council, and should be handed over to China for trial.

"We have once and again stated China's stance on the terrorist suspects issue," Jiang said, urging those involved to properly handle the issue according to the rules of international law.

The new US president issued executive orders to start the process of closing Guantanamo prison where terrorist suspects are detained.

As the first step toward the closure, military judges have agreed to suspend war crimes trials at Guantanamo for 120 days.

About 245 detainees currently are held at Guantanamo, out of some 800 who had been sent there since it was opened after September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.