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Afghan Prison Releases Hundreds
Friday, May 3, 2002
The Associated Press

The bulk of the released prisoners - about 400 - arrived in Kabul in a convoy of buses they paid for with money from the International Committee of the Red Cross, which gave each inmate about $14 as he left the prison.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- AP
Newly freed from Afghanistan's most notorious prison, gaunt and bewildered Taliban inmates spoke Thursday of being packed 50 to 60 in cells meant for five and starvation rations that sometimes led to death.

Hundreds of inmates - heads shaved for lice and ratty clothes hanging loosely from wasted bodies - wrapped themselves in thin shawls against the evening chill as they waited in the Afghan capital of Kabul for buses to take them home.

``There are still small children being held there,'' said Nazar Mohammed, 22. ``They should have been released before us.''
(More: The Register-Guard News Source)
2002 © The Associated Press.

Dan