SHEBERGHAN, Jan 21: A judicial commission into the jailing of some 900 Taliban and al-Qaeda operatives held in an infamous northern prison for more than two years is expected to release its findings next week, an official said.
"We came here to survey the Taliban prisoners to find out who are the real al-Qaeda and who were forced to work with al-Qaeda," commission head Inayetullah Kamel said at Sheberghan jail.
"During the inquiry we have found prisoners that were forced to fight for al-Qaeda. They are ignorant and illiterate people that know nothing and are from the villages of Afghanistan."
Kamel said the inquiry had also found prisoners they considered to be operatives of the Al Qaeda network and that many of these were Pakistani. "Now we are checking, when we finish our inquiry we will give the report to the High Court and President Hamid Karzai, then maybe we will release more than 400 Afghan prisoners next week," he said.
Some 900 militants captured during the US-led invasion are still in jail in Sheberghan more than two years later. The men were captured during fighting in northern Kunduz province.
Two years ago there were some 3,500 prisoners in Sheberghan jail, but many of them have been released during national holidays at the behest of President Karzai.-AFP
