Families of Guantanamo detainies claim many are innocent

Associated Press WriterWASHINGTON (AP) -- An attorney representing the families of 70 detainees at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base said some of the captured men were rescue workers or Taliban sympathizers, but few fought U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

At a news conference Thursday, Najeeb Al-Nauimi said the men's families and other witnesses have confirmed their innocence.

Nauimi also said the U.S. government has done little to investigate which detainees might not be enemies.

"Some of these young men were hiding out with Taliban because they wanted a way to safely surrender with a large group," Al-Nauimi said.

Others wanted to help in some background capacity because they saw the bombing of the Red Cross building and other non-military targets, he said.

"There is a principle that says when you are at war with a foreign power you have to help ... but that's something different than when you call for Jihad," Al-Nauimi said.

According to U.S. officials, 384 men are being held at the base in Cuba indefinitely until authorities interrogate them and determine whether they should be sent back to their homelands or face military tribunals.

Many of the detainees were captured in Afghanistan, others were turned over by countries in the region.

The United States has not recognized Al-Nauimi as a representative of the detainees' families.

The detainees have met with officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross and some with government officials from their countries.

The United States considers the men "unlawful combatants ... who may be detained at least for the duration of hostilities," according to a State Department statement.

The detainees have been allowed to write letters to their families, Al-Nauimi said. In the letters Al-Nauimi has read, the detainees wrote that they are well fed, well-kept and allowed to practice their religion.

Al-Nauimi displayed part of a letter from 22-year-old Yasser Essam Hamdi, an American-born prisoner who has been transferred from Guantanamo to a prison at the Norfolk Naval Station in Virginia.

In the letter, which was translated from Arabic, Hamdi asked his family to pray for him.

"My father, I repeat, I beg you, I beg you to forgive me," Hamdi wrote. "I cannot come out of here without the permission of Allah."