April 4, 2002	Thursday	Muharram 20, 1423

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NEW YORK, April 3: Russia and France on Tuesday asked the United States to extradite their citizens who are among the Taliban and Al Qaeda captives at the United States Naval Base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

According to reports from other countries, the nation with the most prisoners in Guantánamo — about 50 — is Saudi Arabia. Other countries with citizens there include Britain, Australia, Yemen, Pakistan, Algeria, Egypt, Belgium and Denmark.

France has earlier identified four citizens and now believes that overall six French citizens are in US custody.

France, which opposes the death penalty, wants to extradite its citizens and prosecute them at home so they will not be subject to execution if they are found guilty by US military tribunals.

The Russians are preparing cases against their citizens on charges of illegally crossing Russia’s borders and serving as mercenaries, Sergei Fridinsky, the Russian deputy prosecutor general told the New York Times. He said the Russians did not deny their guilt to Russian investigators who visited them.

The Times said in a report that the American investigators are only slowly determining the identities and nationalities of the prisoners and are not releasing their names or confirming names even if their native countries identify them.

But American officials have said there are prisoners from 33 countries. Defence Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said on Tuesday that the United States still did not know the identity of some of them.