MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) - Three Bahrainis, arrested four years ago in the war on terror, headed home on Friday after being released from the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Bahraini officials said.
The release comes after intensive efforts by the king of Bahrain, "who has given this case special priority," Information Minister Mohammed Abdulghaffar told the official Bahrain News Agency.
The minister said the three would appear before the prosecutor-general "to take the necessary measures followed in such cases." But a senior Bahraini government official said the released men would not stand trial, the Emirates-based Khaleej Times newspaper said.
The three were arrested four years ago by Pakistani authorities and handed over to U.S. forces during the 2001 war in Afghanistan, lawmaker Mohammed Khaled said.
"They were only distributing humanitarian aid among Afghani refugees, but some Pakistanis sold them to U.S. forces claiming that they are al-Qaida members," Khaled told The Associated Press.
Khaled said there are three other Bahrainis being held at Guantanamo and that the Bahraini Foreign Ministry was negotiating their release.
"Most of the detainees were interrogated and the three remaining were subjected to severe torture over the past four years," Khaled said.
One of those named by Khaled, Juma'a Mohammed al-Dossary, 32, has allegedly tried twice to commit suicide in Guantanamo.
On Friday, his lawyers said he should be granted a meeting with them as soon as possible and should have the conditions of his confinement eased, among other requests. The U.S. government has not yet filed a response to the request and a Department of Defense spokesman referred questions about the case to the Justice Department. Justice Department officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Military officials, who won't provide information about specific detainees, have not confirmed that al-Dossary tried to kill himself, but said there have been 36 suicide attempts by 22 prisoners since the U.S. began taking prisoners from the war on terror to the base in early 2002.
About 500 detainees remain held at the Guantanamo facility in Cuba. As of Friday, there were 26 prisoners on hunger strike, including 23 who are being force-fed through nasal tubes. U.S. officials say that no detainees have died at the camp since it opened.
The United States has insisted that terror suspects held at the camp are enemy combatants, not prisoners of war, and thus not entitled to the same rights afforded POWs under the Geneva Convention.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20051104/D8DLUUH01.html
The release comes after intensive efforts by the king of Bahrain, "who has given this case special priority," Information Minister Mohammed Abdulghaffar told the official Bahrain News Agency.
The minister said the three would appear before the prosecutor-general "to take the necessary measures followed in such cases." But a senior Bahraini government official said the released men would not stand trial, the Emirates-based Khaleej Times newspaper said.
The three were arrested four years ago by Pakistani authorities and handed over to U.S. forces during the 2001 war in Afghanistan, lawmaker Mohammed Khaled said.
"They were only distributing humanitarian aid among Afghani refugees, but some Pakistanis sold them to U.S. forces claiming that they are al-Qaida members," Khaled told The Associated Press.
Khaled said there are three other Bahrainis being held at Guantanamo and that the Bahraini Foreign Ministry was negotiating their release.
"Most of the detainees were interrogated and the three remaining were subjected to severe torture over the past four years," Khaled said.
One of those named by Khaled, Juma'a Mohammed al-Dossary, 32, has allegedly tried twice to commit suicide in Guantanamo.
On Friday, his lawyers said he should be granted a meeting with them as soon as possible and should have the conditions of his confinement eased, among other requests. The U.S. government has not yet filed a response to the request and a Department of Defense spokesman referred questions about the case to the Justice Department. Justice Department officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Military officials, who won't provide information about specific detainees, have not confirmed that al-Dossary tried to kill himself, but said there have been 36 suicide attempts by 22 prisoners since the U.S. began taking prisoners from the war on terror to the base in early 2002.
About 500 detainees remain held at the Guantanamo facility in Cuba. As of Friday, there were 26 prisoners on hunger strike, including 23 who are being force-fed through nasal tubes. U.S. officials say that no detainees have died at the camp since it opened.
The United States has insisted that terror suspects held at the camp are enemy combatants, not prisoners of war, and thus not entitled to the same rights afforded POWs under the Geneva Convention.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20051104/D8DLUUH01.html
