Judge orders Chinese Muslims freed from Gitmo

A federal judge has ordered the immediate release into the United States of a group of 17 Chinese Muslims who have been held in the U.S. military facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for several years.

The detainees are ethnic Uighurs, from a mostly Muslim autonomous region in western China.

They have been in government custody for seven years, and have been cleared for release for the past four years to any country willing to take them. No countries have volunteered.

The judge, visibly impatient, told government lawyers he wants no delays.