Six ethnic Uyghur people are detained in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, moved to the island nation of Palau, Sunday, November 1, 2009. According to the United States Department of Justice (U.S.) and the lawyers, the defendants will be free to rebuild their lives in the country in the Pacific Ocean.

The suspects are detained at a U.S. military base in Cuba for seven years arrived in Palau without cleared of all charges. The names of the former detainees who the U.S. Justice Department announced it was Tourson Ahmad, Abdul Rahman Abdul Ghappar, Edham Mamet, Anwar Hassan, Dawut Abdurehim, and Adel Noori.

“Nothing more could these people than live peacefully, productively in a free and democratic country, and safe from the pressure from China,” said Eric Tirschwell of the law firm Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel, as quoted by the Straits Times page. “Thanks to Palau that offers temporary shelter for them, now they have a chance. We hope other countries will soon move forward to provide permanent shelter.”

The former prisoners are six of the 22 Muslim Uyghur, minority groups from the remote Xinjiang region in China, which was in a camp in Afghanistan during the U.S. led invasion began in October 2001.