Some Guantanamo detainees freed elsewhere

By ANDREW O. SELSKY, Associated Press Writer Dec. 15, 2006

The Pentagon called them "among the most dangerous, best-trained,
vicious killers on the face of the earth," sweeping them up after
Sept. 11 and hauling them in chains to a U.S. military prison in
southeastern Cuba.

Since then, hundreds of the men have been transferred from Guantanamo
Bay to other countries, many of them for "continued detention."

And then set free.

Decisions by more than a dozen countries in the Middle East, Europe
and South Asia to release the former Guantanamo detainees raise
questions about whether they were really as dangerous as the United
States claimed, or whether some of America's staunchest allies have
set terrorists and militants free.

The United States does not systematically track what happens to
detainees once they leave Guantanamo, the U.S. State Department says.
Defense lawyers and human rights groups say they know of no
centralized database, although one group is attempting to compile one.

When the Pentagon announces a detainee has been moved from
Guantanamo, it gives his nationality but not his name, making it
difficult to track the roughly 360 men released since the detention
center opened in January 2002. The Pentagon says detainees have been
sent to 26 countries.

But through interviews with justice and police officials, detainees
and their families, and using reports from human rights groups and
local media, The Associated Press was able to track 245 of those
formerly held at Guantanamo. The investigation, which spanned 17
countries, found:

_Once the detainees arrived in other countries, 205 of the 245 were
either freed without being charged or were cleared of charges related
to their detention at Guantanamo. Forty either stand charged with
crimes or continue to be detained.

_Only a tiny fraction of transferred detainees have been put on
trial. The AP identified 14 trials, in which eight men were acquitted
and six are awaiting verdicts. Two of the cases involving acquittals
— one in Kuwait, one in Spain — initially resulted in convictions
that were overturned on appeal.

_The Afghan government has freed every one of the more than 83
Afghans sent home. Lawmaker Sibghatullah Mujaddedi, the head of
Afghanistan's reconciliation commission, said many were innocent and
wound up at Guantanamo because of tribal or personal rivalries.

_At least 67 of 70 repatriated Pakistanis are free after spending a
year in Adiala Jail. A senior Pakistani Interior Ministry official
said investigators determined that most had been "sold" for bounties
to U.S. forces by Afghan warlords who invented links between the men
and al-Qaida. "We consider them innocent," said the official, who
declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.

_All 29 detainees who were repatriated to Britain, Spain, Germany,
Russia, Australia, Turkey, Denmark, Bahrain and the Maldives were
freed, some within hours after being sent home for "continued
detention."

Some former detainees say they never intended to harm the United
States and are bitter.

"I can't wash the three long years of pain, trouble and humiliation
from my memory," said Badarzaman Badar, an Afghan who was freed in
Pakistan. "It is like a cancer in my mind that makes me disturbed
every time I think of those terrible days."

Overall, about 165 Guantanamo detainees have been transferred from
Guantanamo for "continued detention," while about 200 were designated
for immediate release. Some 420 detainees remain at the U.S. base in
Cuba.

Clive Stafford Smith, a British-American attorney representing
several detainees, said the AP's findings indicate that innocent men
were jailed and that the term "continued detention" is part of "a
politically motivated farce."

"The Bush Administration wants to be able to say that these are
dangerous terrorists who are going to be confined upon their release
... although there is no evidence against many of them," he said.

When four Britons were sent home from Guantanamo in January 2005,
Britain said it would detain and investigate them — then released
them after only 18 hours. Five Britons repatriated earlier were also
rapidly released with no charges.

Murat Kurnaz, a German-born Turkish citizen, was also quickly freed
when he was flown to Germany in August, bound hand and foot, after
more than four years at Guantanamo.

U.S. officials maintained he was a member of al-Qaida, based on what
they said was secret evidence. But his New Jersey-based lawyer, Baher
Azmy, said he was shown the classified evidence and was shocked to
find how unpersuasive it was.

"It contains five or six statements exonerating him," Azmy said.

In October German prosecutors said they found no evidence that Kurnaz
had links to Islamic radicals in Pakistan or Afghanistan and formally
dropped their investigation.

The United States insists that the fact that so many of the former
detainees have been freed by other countries doesn't mean they
weren't dangerous.

"They were part of Taliban, al-Qaida, or associated forces that are
engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition
partners," said Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman.

But Joshua Colangelo-Bryan, a lawyer representing several detainees,
says the fact that hundreds of men have been released into freedom
belies their characterization by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
as "among the most dangerous, best-trained, vicious killers on the
face of the earth."

"After all, it would simply be incredible to suggest that the United
States has voluntarily released such 'vicious killers' or that such
men had been miraculously reformed at Guantanamo," Colangelo-Bryan
said.

Mohammed Aman, a 49-year-old Afghan who describes himself as a former
low-level member of the Taliban, said he initially wasn't worried
when U.S. troops detained him.

"I was relaxed because I was innocent," he said. "I was sure I would
be freed. I was always thinking that today or tomorrow I will be
free."

He spent three years at Guantanamo until he was finally put on a
plane at the base, blindfolded and with headphones covering his ears.
When he made it back to his home in Malaik Khail, Afghanistan,
villagers streamed out to greet him, many weeping.

Detainees are held at Guantanamo Bay because a military panel
classifies them as an "enemy combatant," which refers not only to
armed fighters but to anyone who aids enemy forces. Every year, each
gets a hearing to determine whether he remains a security threat to
the United States or has intelligence value.

Using those hearings as guidance, Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon
England decides whether to keep the detainee at Guantanamo, release
him, or send him to another country for detention.

This year, through Nov. 20, he had ruled on 149 prisoners. He decided
that 106 should be held, 43 should be transferred to custody of other
countries and none should be released outright.

Azmy, the New Jersey lawyer, said the distinction between release and
transfer is largely a fiction because recipient countries are under
no obligation to imprison the returnees. The United States doesn't
even ask them to.

A senior U.S. State Department official acknowledged that "We do not
ask countries to detain them on our behalf, so when a decision is
made by a country to move forward with an investigation for
prosecution, that is something they have decided to do pursuant to
their own domestic law."

Requesting anonymity because she is not authorized to speak on the
record, she said about 15 former detainees returned to the
battlefield after being freed. The Pentagon was unable to provide
details.

"That's the risk that goes along with transferring people out of
Guantanamo," she said. "It's not foolproof."

Some former detainees still face the justice systems of Saudi Arabia,
Kuwait and France.

Six Kuwaitis returned from Guantanamo stood trial on terror-related
charges. Five were acquitted, and on Dec. 5 an appeals court
overturned the conviction of the sixth, Nasser al-Mutairi.

In France, the trial of six transferred Guantanamo detainees has
focused as much on the U.S. prison camp as on their prosecution on
charges of "criminal association with a terrorist enterprise."

Prosecutor Sonya Djemni-Wagner has requested light sentences, saying
she took into account the defendants' "arbitrary detention ... at a
facility outside all legal frameworks."

She is seeking one year in prison plus suspended sentences for five
suspects and no sentence for the sixth, all of whom are currently
free.

Their time already served behind bars in France should be counted
toward their sentences, she said, meaning that even if convicted,
none would be locked up.

___

Andrew Selsky oversees AP's coverage of Guantanamo Bay from his base
in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and periodically visits there. Among AP
correspondents who contributed to this story are Jason Straziuso in
Kabul, Afghanistan; Munir Ahmad in Islamabad, Pakistan; Riaz Khan in
Peshawar, Pakistan; Angela Doland in Paris and Diana Elias in Kuwait
City. The AP's News Research Center in New York also contributed.