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Turkey Confirms Expected Release of 'Taliban of Bremen' From Guantanamo

Agence France Presse
August 23, 2006

ANKARA , Aug 23, 2006 (AFP) - Turkey confirmed Wednesday that Murat Kurnaz, a German-born Turk held for about four years at GuantanamoBay, would be released in the coming days and sent to Germany where he lives.

"As a result of our intense intitiatives, US authorities informed us that (Kurnaz) would be released and sent to Germany," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said it had no intention of seeking Kurnaz's extradition since he had no criminal record or arrest warrant issued in his name.

Last week, Kurnaz's lawyer Bernhard Docke told AFP in Berlin that he expected his client, nicknamed the "Taliban of Bremen", to be freed this month but had been given "no firm date" for his release.

US forces arrested Kurnaz in early 2002 in Pakistan on suspicion of terrorist activities and took him to the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The US authorities reportedly believed that Kurnaz's travelling companion, who was originally to accompany him to Pakistan, was a future suicide bomber, but the man never flew to Pakistan.

US investigators have also accused Kurnaz of being an Islamist "fighter" with links to Al-Qaeda, which he denies.

His lawyers argued he never fought, possessed no weapons and never went to Afghanistan.

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