Expect moe stories likethis in the coming months.
Sixteen Afghans and one Iranian released from years in captivity at Guantanamo Bay prison arrived in Afghanistan on Thursday, an Afghan official said, maintaining that “most” of the detainees had been falsely accused.
[snip]
One of the released prisoners, Sayed Mohammead Ali Shah, said he had been a delegate at the country’s first loya jirga, a council of leaders that helped establish the interim government in 2002 after the U.S.-led invasion to oust the Taliban in 2001.
“For four years they put me in jail in Cuba for nothing,” said Shah, a doctor from the eastern province of Paktia whose hands shook from nervousness when he spoke.
“All these people (the other prisoners) and all those Afghans still in Cuba, they are innocent,” he told reporters. “All were arrested because of false reports, and the Americans, without investigating, they arrested innocent people and put them in jail for a long time.”
Another former prisoner, 20-year-old Habib Rahman, said he was arrested because he had a weapon in his home.
“They told me, ‘You are against us, you are anti-American and anti-government and you are fighting with us,'” said Rahman. “At that time in our area everyone had weapons. I was innocent and I hadn’t participated in any fighting.”
Rahman said that he was treated harshly at Guantanamo, and was once kept awake for 38 hours while being questioned about ties to terrorists.
“The last time they tortured me like that was four months ago,” he said. “They were kicking us all the time, beating us with their hands.”
UPDATE: Oh yeah, baby, expect the shit to hit the fan whenthis report is released.
A Red Cross delegation has met at Guantanamo Bay with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and 13 other “high-value detainees,” a Pentagon spokesman said Thursday.
[snip]
Red Cross spokesmen in Washington and Geneva refused to comment, saying they would issue a statement in coming days. The Red Cross delegation arrived at Guantanamo on Sept. 25.