Nov. 1 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Department of Justice said yesterday that six detainees at Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. naval base and detention facility in Cuba, have been released to the control of the Republic of Palau.

The detainees, Chinese of Uighur ethnicity, were cleared for release by the prior administration which determined they would no longer be treated as enemy combatants, the department said in an e-mailed statement dated Oct. 31.

“Ahmad Tourson, Abdul Ghappar Abdul Rahman, Edham Mamet, Anwar Hassan, Dawut Abdurehim and Adel Noori were resettled in Palau earlier today,” the statement said.

The Supreme Court said on Oct. 20 that it would hear arguments from 13 Chinese Uighurs who have been held without charges at Guantanamo since 2002. Most or all of them were living in a camp in the Tora Bora mountains in Afghanistan when a U.S. bombing campaign destroyed the camp in 2001.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ann Koh in Singapore at akoh15@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 31, 2009 23:44 EDT