A few months ago Abdulghappar Turkistani wrote from his cell in Guantanamo Bay of his yearning to see the sun and feel the air.

Now a US federal judge has ruled that Turkistani, and 16 other Chinese Muslims held prisoner for seven years, must be set free and released into the United States from the naval facility in Cuba.

The decision drew delight from other Uighurs, from north-western China’s Xinjiang region, now living in the United States, swift condemnation from the administration and anger from China which regards them as members of a terrorist organisation bent on separatism.

In a stern rebuke of the US government, District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina said it would be wrong to continue holding the detainees since they no longer are considered enemy combatants. The must be released by Friday, he ruled.

He said: “I think the moment has arrived for the court to shine the light of constitutionality on the reasons for the detention.” His words drew cheers and applause from local Uighur residents in Washington and from human rights activists packed into the US District courtroom.

The 17 Uighurs were officially declared no longer "enemy combatants" by the government earlier this year, but officials had maintained they could continue to hold the men at Guantanamo Bay if no other country accepted them. Only Albania has agreed to take the Uighurs, welcoming a group of five who were flown there from Guantanamo Bayin 2006 and who now live in refugee accommodation with no possibility of returning to their families any time soon.

The men had been left in limbo because of the dilemma of where they would go after their release.

China has urged the United States to repatriate the "terrorist suspects," but Washington has resisted, suspecting they could be tortured and jailed upon their return. For years the United States has attempted to persuade other countries to resettle the group, recognising that the Turkic-speaking minority has been widely persecuted by Chinese authorities

That left Turkistani and his fellow Uighurs in prison even after being told as long ago as 2004 that they would be released because they had been ruled to pose no threat. In a letter released by his New York-based lawyers earlier this year, Turkistani said the 17 were held in cramped, windowless cells for up to 22 hours every day.

He said: "We fail to know why we are still in jail here. Being forbidden from the natural sunlight, natural air, being surrounded with a metal box all around is not suitable for a human being"

Most of the Uighurs were picked up by bounty hunters in Pakistan and Afghanistan shortly after the fall of the Taliban and handed over to the US military. They are believed to have fled China to seek a new life overseas and some were even en route to the United States.

It was the first time a court had ordered that "war on terror" prisoners detained at the US base should be released onto US soil, and the government of President George W. Bush swiftly said it planned to appeal the decision.

"The district court's ruling, if allowed to stand, could be used as precedent for other detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, including sworn enemies of the United States suspected of planning the attacks of 9/11, who may also seek release into our country," a spokeswoman said in a statement.

However, Rebia Kadeer, president of the World Uighur Congress, called the decision a victory for oppressed Uighur in China. The former high-profile Chinese businesswoman now living in exile after serving several years in a Xinjiang jail, said: “This is our destiny. This is our people's win. This concerns our freedom. China accuses us of being terrorists, but we are not.”

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