With chances waning that any released captives from the Guantanamo Bay prison camp will be given new homes in the United States, Germany is expecting more requests to grant refuge, dpa quoted a Berlin official as saying today. So far the administration of President Barack Obama has asked Germany to take in nine Uighurs, a Tunisian and a Syrian. All Uighurs held at the base in Cuba have been ordered freed by US courts. China on Thursday demanded the return of all Uighurs, an ethnic Muslim minority in the country, but the United States has refused out of fear that they could be tortured or even executed there. "We assume there are going to be more requests," said a Foreign Ministry spokesman in Berlin. Berlin has not decided on any of the requests yet. The issue has split Chancellor Angela Merkel's government, with security officials arguing there will be no benefit to Germany in taking in suspected Islamist radicals. The final decision is up to Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, responsible for police and counter-subversion. He maintains the United States has yet to supply all the documentation he needs. His spokesman, Stefan Paris, said, "at the moment it's not possible to arrive at any favourable decisions, because some data is not there yet. We are studying this matter according to law." The camp currently has 240 inmates. The United States proposes to try those accused of crimes and release those against whom there is no evidence, but the US Congress is hostile to Obama's request to let some start free lives on US soil. Palau has agreed to accept some Uighurs, while the United States say that Bermuda has agreed to accept some too.
