The task force on Guantánamo Bay detainees set up by Barack Obama has recommended the release into the US of two Chinese Uighurs held at the prison, the Financial Times has learned.

Two government officials told the FT that the task force had advocated releasing two of the 17 Uighurs - Muslims from Xinjiang province - held at Guantánamo as part of the effort to fulfil the president's pledge to close the US detention facility on Cuba within a year.