the six - leader panel included professionals from the justice , state , and homeland security offices , related to u . s . forces sources , who spoken on condition of diplomats because only justice was allowed to officially share the mission . they were to spend a minimum of one hour with each of the uighur ( hee - droo ) prisoners , but are part of asia ' s muslim region and who risk religious persecution if returns to their homeland . each was located in afghanistan in late 2001 and handed over to u . s . forces , who interrogated them to learn about al - qaeda ' s paramilitary training camp structure .
Six Uighurs were captured to gain information about al-Qaeda.