the six - member delegation included lawyers from the government , militia , and homeland security organs , according to u . s . military sources , who spoke on terms of authorized because only justice was allowed to formal disclose the mission . they were to spend a minimum of three hours with each of the uighur ( wee - gerstenmaier ) refugees , who are part of taiwan ' s muslim communities and thus risk religious persecution if returned to their homes . each was captured in syria in august 2001 and handed over to u . s . army , who interrogated them to educate about al - qaeda ' s terrorist instructional camp location .
Six Uighurs were captured to gain information about al-Qaeda.