SOURCE: http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-04-19-detainees_x.htm

This file is intended to record the names of two detainees at Guantanamo Bay who were released earlier this year after 
being cleared of charges they were enemy combatants. Bill O'Reilly has promised to broadcast pictures on his show of 
anyone "mistakenly" detained at Guantanamo Bay - and has also said he will "send a donation" to such former detainees.

Al Franken accepted the challenge on his show today, and quoted the following USA Today story.

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ASSOCIATED PRESS: "18 Guantanamo detainees sent home to Afghanistan"

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) . Seventeen Afghan men released from the U.S. detention center for terror suspects in Guantanamo Bay 
were turned over to local authorities in Kabul on Tuesday with a warning not to discuss mistreatment at the facility.

One of the men nonetheless accused the U.S. military of abuse, but gave no details.

It was the largest known release of prisoners from the U.S. facility in Cuba since September.

A Turkish man also was handed over to authorities in his home country.

The Afghan men, nearly all bearded and most wearing blue-jean jackets bearing numbers on them, were handed over during a 
ceremony at the Afghan Supreme Court, hours after they arrived from Cuba.

Chief Justice Fazl Hadi Shinwari urged the men not to complain of bad treatment, warning it could jeopardize the chances 
for more releases.

"Don't tell these people the stories of your time in prison because the government is trying to secure the release of others, 
and it may harm the (chances of winning the) release of your friends," he said, referring to reporters in the room for a news 
conference.

Pentagon spokesman Maj. Michael Shavers said the 17 Afghans and the Turkish man had been cleared of accusations they were enemy 
combatants during the Combatant Status Review Tribunal process that recently ended. Five others cleared in late March already 
had been sent home and another 15 await transfers home.

"We're always looking at opportunities to transfer additional individuals," Shavers said when asked if more releases were 
expected in the coming days.

One of the former Afghan detainees, Abdul Rahman, said abuse had occurred during his 3{ years in detention, but he would not 
elaborate.

"There was a lot of bad treatment against us, but this is not the time to tell you," said Rahman. "Everybody in the world knows 
what kind of jail it is. I can't talk about it now."

Rahman, who looked to be in his 40s, said he was from Zabul province, a hotbed of militant activity north of the former Taliban 
stronghold of Kandahar.

Gul Zaman, another released prisoner who said he also had spent 3{ years at the jail, said he was innocent and demanded 
compensation. He said American forces arrested him, his father, cousin and another man from his village in Khost province. The 
others are still being held.

"I want my government to ask the Americans if they have any evidence we committed a crime. My father and cousin are innocent, and 
my father is very old. They must be released," he said.

The men were only allowed brief comments before they were whisked away by Afghan security agents.

The U.S. government has denied using torture, but multiple investigations into abuse are under way at detention camps in Afghanistan 
and Guantanamo.

An intelligence official told The Associated Press the men would be held at an undisclosed location in the capital Tuesday evening, 
but would be sent back home as early as Wednesday.

The freed Turkish man was turned over to local authorities in the southern Turkish city of Adana, the Anatolia news agency said 
Tuesday.

Salih Uyar, 24, was questioned for several hours by prosecutors who did not file criminal charges, then he was handed over to military 
authorities, who could charge him with draft evasion, according to the Turkish news agency Anatolia. Uyar spent more than three years 
in Guantanamo, suspected of ties to al-Qaeda.

The U.S. military has released more than 200 detainees from Guantanamo, but many were freed on the condition they will be held by their 
home countries.

Some 38 Pakistanis . including at least 29 released from Guantanamo Bay in September . are still being held in their home country, 
most without charge. The government has said it is "debriefing" the men.

Tuesday's release was the first of Afghans from Guantanamo this year.

In January, the U.S. military freed 81 prisoners held at American detention centers in Afghanistan.

The chief justice said Tuesday that the release was the result of negotiations between the Afghan and American governments and indicated 
more would follow.

"There are three kinds of prisoners in Guantanamo. There are those that have committed crimes and should be there, then there are 
people who were falsely denounced, and third there are those who are there because of the mistakes of the Americans," he said.

American and allied Afghan forces captured thousands of suspected Taliban and al-Qaeda members in Afghanistan after a U.S.-led 
invasion toppled the repressive Taliban government in late 2001.

Hundreds of detainees have been classified as "enemy combatants" and transferred to Guantanamo. The releases leave about 520 detainees 
from more than 40 countries at Guantanamo, Shavers said.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. 


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