Months on, US finds ‘few’ innocents in Guantanamo

The move also signals that the US has at last sorted through the backgrounds of some of the detainees and determined that some actually might be so-called ‘‘innocents,’’ instead of the ‘‘hardest of the hard’’ as the defence secretary first characterized the Guantanamo Bay detainees.

Asad Hayauddin, a spokesman at the Pakistani Embassy here in Washington, said that while his country had not been formally notified, any Pakistani detainees would be treated like returning prisoners of war. ‘‘We vetted them once,’’ he said, explaining that his country does not believe any of the Pakistanis at Guantanamo Bay are terrorists. ‘‘Nothing will happen to them now. They will be treated just like a POW is treated. They will be debriefed, and then repatriated.’’

The announcement brought new hope for other countries with detainees at Guantanamo Bay. The families of 12 Kuwaitis imprisoned there are seeking help through legal and diplomatic channels. The Saudi Arabian embassy also said ‘‘we would like to have all our people.’’

Explaining why some are being released, Rumsfeld said the interrogators had concluded that they are ‘‘very likely not to be of any additional intelligence value.’’

He said the US next weighed whether the detainees were wanted for prosecution at home, and whether they were ‘‘people who ought to be kept off the street simply because they might be inclined to go back and again engage in activities that would be opposed to the Afghan government or to the US.’’

Pressed to divulge who and how many were going home, Rumsfeld only said: ‘‘I don’t know. But there are a small number that have now been moved through that process, (and) I’ve said that’s fine with me.’’ (LATWP)