In an odyssey spanning 10 years and three continents, a simple merchant's dream of a better life turned to a nightmare following 9/11.

Adil Hakimjan's journey led from northwest China's Xinjiang Province to Pakistan and Afghanistan, and from there to four years' imprisonment at Guantánamo. After being released from the US terror prison camp in 2006, the Chinese Uighur was sent to Albania and eventually sought asylum in Sweden.

Although he's out of Guantánamo and has been cleared of any wrongdoing by US authorities, his case is far from being settled. Mr. Hakimjan now sits in legal limbo in Sweden, with the Chinese government eager to see him deported and Sweden's Migration Board appealing an earlier decision that granted him asylum protection.

"In three months, it's been three years since we were released from Guantánamo," Hakimjan told the Monitor recently, referring to four other Uighurs released with him from Guantánamo. "Still, I cannot start my own life."

Seventeen other Uighurs (pronounced WEE-gers) remain imprisoned at Guantánamo, even though they have never been charged and were officially cleared for release in September 2008. Hakimjan's case illustrates the diplomatic and legal minefield facing the Obama administration as it attempts to find new and safe homes for the men without further enraging China, which views them as domestic terrorists.

Seven of the Guantánamo Uighurs could soon be released into the US, according to a source quoted Friday by the Los Angeles Times.

From China to Sweden, by way of Cuba

Hakimjan fled China in 1999 because of what he describes as severe persecution. In a lengthy interview, he detailed the arrests, beatings, and torture that precipitated his journey.

Bishkek, the capital of neighboring Kyrgyzstan, was his first stop. He said he intended to move his family there, but after a year-and-a-half, the Kyrgyz government began deporting Uighurs back to China. In July, 2001, Hakimjan and a friend then struck out for Turkey, never imagining Guantánamo would soon be their destination.

After leaving Bishkek, the pair went first to Pakistan, then they crossed into Afghanistan to wait in a Uighur village until documents arrived that would allow the men to cross Iran in order to reach Turkey. Their waiting spot was near the Tora Bora cave complex, which was bombed by the US in December 2001.

After the US began military operations in the area, Hakimjan and 17 other Uighurs fled the mountains for Pakistan, where they were captured by bounty hunters who had been promised $5,000 for every captured "terrorist."

After spending six months at a US prison in Kandahar, Afghanistan, the Uighurs were transferred to Guantánamo. Hakimjan says the first six to eight months were the toughest – he was completely isolated and unable to communicate. Later, he was transferred to a shared compound.

Freed, but without a country

Although a US military tribunal officially cleared Hakimjan of any wrongdoing in March 2005, it wasn't until another year passed that he and four other prisoners were chained, hooded, and flown to Albania for release.

In November 2007, after traveling to Sweden to speak at a human rights conference, Hakimjan filed for political asylum. His claim was initially denied by a Swedish migration board, but he was victorious in Swedish Migration Court in February. That made Hakimjan the first of those cleared of wrongdoing and released from Guantánamo to be granted political asylum within the European Union (EU).

China has repeatedly expressed its "concern" to the Swedish government over Hakimjan's asylum bid, according to Swedish media reports. If Hakimjan is returned to China, he could face further persecution.

According to a recent Amnesty International report, in Xinjiang Province "authorities continued to use the US-led 'war on terror' to justify harsh repression of ethnic Uighurs." The report also notes an increasing number of Uighurs, a Turkic, largely Muslim people, had been "forcibly" returned to China from abroad, and face "the death penalty and possible execution."

Hakimjan says his children have begged him not to return to China out of fears that the authorities "will arrest and torture me again."

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