Five Chinese Muslim men have been released from the US detention centre in Guantanamo Bay and flown to Albania for resettlement, the US says.
US officials had concluded the ethnic Uighers represented no danger but did not want to return them to China for fear they would face persecution.
Uighurs are seeking a homeland in the western Chinese province of Xinjiang.
The US state department called Albania's offer to resettle the men, "an important humanitarian gesture".
The five men were among about 20 Chinese Uighurs held at Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba, along with some 470 other inmates.
'Incredible news'
Two of the men, Abu Bakker Qassim and A'del Abdu al-Hakim, had taken their bid for freedom all the way to the US Supreme Court.
They had been forced to remain in the camp even though the US military determined a year ago they were not "enemy combatants" as had been thought when they were captured in Pakistan in 2001.
CHINA'S UIGHURS
The Bush administration did not want to admit them to the US, and was seeking another country to take them.
Their case was due to be heard again at a lower court on Monday.
The move to Albania meant the US government could, "avoid having to answer in court for keeping innocent men in jail," lawyer Barbara Olshansky said.
The Uighur-American Association called the men's release "incredible news".
"It's all been very sudden and unexpected, but we understand that all five men are healthy and happy to be free, if a little bewildered by events," Nury Turkel, the association's president, said.
China has insisted that its nationals held at Guantanamo Bay on suspicion of terrorism should be returned.
Beijing has frequently cracked down on Uighur dissidents.
It accuses Uighur militants of waging a bombing and assassination campaign, and receiving training at al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan.
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