About eighty Afghan detainees were released from &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/usa/2001/03/07/2884.html ' target=_blank>US custody at Bagram air base, ahead of the Muslim festival of Eid as part of an attempt to bring moderate Taliban supporters in from the cold.
The 80 prisoners, dressed in blue and grey shalwar kameez and unlaced blue sports shoes, arrived Sunday at the &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/usa/2001/07/09/9609.html ' target=_blank>Supreme Court in two buses from the US detention facility at Bagram and were released after a hearing.
Chief Justice Fazel Hadi Shinwari told the court the prisoners had been held at Bagram, contradicting earlier reports that they had been released from Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, wrote the Turkish Press.
Supreme Court spokesman Waheed Mujda told AFP: "We were initially told that they were released from &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/main/2003/02/08/43153.html ' target=_blank>Guantanamo and now they told us that they are released from Bagram. I was given the wrong information."
Prisoners interviewed outside the court said they had been well treated at Bagram but some complained of torture out in the field and of false arrest.
Others complained about being detained on the basis of false information given by fellow Afghans who held grudges against them.
The US military has come under fire from rights groups for its methods at detention centres in Afghanistan, where at least eight detainees have died since 2002, says ABC News.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/main/2002/09/27/37393.html ' target=_blank>Karzai's office said the prisoners were freed thanks to "cooperation" between the government and the U.S. military.
"Bringing happiness to a Muslim family during Eid is a great reward, and our people should also live joyfully during Eid like other Muslims around the world," the president said, according to an e-mailed statement.
Two buses brought the 81 Afghan prisoners from the main U.S. base at Bagram to the Supreme Court in the capital, Kabul, where the chief justice warned them to stay out of trouble and say little about their detention.
"Don't sabotage the security or the government, and God will be pleased with you," Fazl Hadi Shinwari told the men, seated in a hall at the court before being allowed to complete their journey home.
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