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CNN Live At Daybreak

Four Afghans Released from Gitmo

Aired October 29, 2002 - 06:31   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Four men, who have been held by the United States at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have been returned overseas. They were to be handed over to Afghan Interior Ministry and then released to their families today.
We want to get much more on this, and for that, we go to the Afghan capital of Kabul and our Diana Muriel.

You talked to these men, Diana. What did they say?

DIANA MURIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Carol, I did talk to them. They seemed very confused about what had been happening to them over the past few days.

They flew back from Guantanamo Bay on Sunday and were released to the Afghan authorities at the U.S. Air Base at Bagram, just outside Kabul, under the watchful eyes of the International Red Cross.

The three men have now been released from the military hospital in Kabul, where they were being held since their return on Sunday. They've been receiving medical checkups while they've been there.

They've been moved, we understand, to the Interior Ministry, into the hands of the Afghan Police Service. And we understand, as I speak, that there is a press conference taking place at the Ministry of Interior about what will happen to them in the future.

When I spoke to them this morning, they didn't know what was going to happen to them. They said that they hadn't been able to speak to their families, although the Red Cross had told me that they have managed to get messages or were trying to get messages to their families, and that they did expect to be released today, but we haven't had confirmation of that at this stage -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Diana, we couldn't understand what they were saying. Did they tell you they were well-treated at Guantanamo?

MURIEL: Yes, they did. I have to say that all three of them spoke a particular dialect of Pashtun, which even our translators found hard to understand.

But, yes, all of them said that they had been treated well by the American authorities.

One of them, who gave his name as Faiz Mohammad (ph), who said that he was 115 years old, although he is most likely in his late 70s or early 80s, said that his stomach had always been full while he'd been in Cuba, and that the Americans had treated them extremely well, that he hadn't been shackled when he was inside the detention center, although he had been handcuffed when taken out for exercise -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Diana Muriel, we're going to be hearing a lot more about this throughout the day on CNN -- thank you, though, for the update for DAYBREAK.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.






Aired October 29, 2002 - 06:31   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Four men, who have been held by the United States at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have been returned overseas. They were to be handed over to Afghan Interior Ministry and then released to their families today.
We want to get much more on this, and for that, we go to the Afghan capital of Kabul and our Diana Muriel.

You talked to these men, Diana. What did they say?

DIANA MURIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Carol, I did talk to them. They seemed very confused about what had been happening to them over the past few days.

They flew back from Guantanamo Bay on Sunday and were released to the Afghan authorities at the U.S. Air Base at Bagram, just outside Kabul, under the watchful eyes of the International Red Cross.

The three men have now been released from the military hospital in Kabul, where they were being held since their return on Sunday. They've been receiving medical checkups while they've been there.

They've been moved, we understand, to the Interior Ministry, into the hands of the Afghan Police Service. And we understand, as I speak, that there is a press conference taking place at the Ministry of Interior about what will happen to them in the future.

When I spoke to them this morning, they didn't know what was going to happen to them. They said that they hadn't been able to speak to their families, although the Red Cross had told me that they have managed to get messages or were trying to get messages to their families, and that they did expect to be released today, but we haven't had confirmation of that at this stage -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Diana, we couldn't understand what they were saying. Did they tell you they were well-treated at Guantanamo?

MURIEL: Yes, they did. I have to say that all three of them spoke a particular dialect of Pashtun, which even our translators found hard to understand.

But, yes, all of them said that they had been treated well by the American authorities.

One of them, who gave his name as Faiz Mohammad (ph), who said that he was 115 years old, although he is most likely in his late 70s or early 80s, said that his stomach had always been full while he'd been in Cuba, and that the Americans had treated them extremely well, that he hadn't been shackled when he was inside the detention center, although he had been handcuffed when taken out for exercise -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Diana Muriel, we're going to be hearing a lot more about this throughout the day on CNN -- thank you, though, for the update for DAYBREAK.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.