U.S. officials returned two Pakistani brothers to their home country Thursday after holding them two decades without charges at the Guantanamo Bay military prison.
Abdul and Mohammed Rabbani were the latest detainees to be released from U.S. custody as the U.S. moves toward emptying and shutting down the prison. The George W. Bush administration set it up at a naval base in Cuba for extremist suspects rounded up after the Sept. 11, 2001 al-Qaida attacks on the United States.
The two brothers were originally transferred to U.S. custody after Pakistani officials arrested them in their home city of Karachi in 2002. U.S. officials accused the two of helping al-Qaida members with housing and other lower-level logistical support.
The brothers alleged torture while in CIA custody before being transferred to Guantanamo. U.S. military records describe the two as providing little intelligence of value or recanting statements made during interrogations on the grounds they were obtained by physical abuse.
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