KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- An American convicted of running a prison in
Afghanistan as part of a private hunt for terrorists left the country
late Saturday following his release from an Afghan jail, officials
said.
Court documents filed Friday in Washington, D.C., show that U.S.
officials planned to help Brent Bennett secure a passport and a ticket
out of the country, and an Associated Press reporter saw a man
identified as Bennett board a plane for Dubai late Saturday.
Bennett, former U.S. soldier Jonathan "Jack" Idema, and Edward
Carabello were arrested in July 2004 and convicted of running a private
prison in Kabul after Afghan security forces raided a house and
discovered eight Afghan men who said they had been abused.
Abdul Qayum, the commander of the Pul-i-charki prison where Bennett had
been jailed, said the American was in good spirits when he left the
prison on Saturday.
An Afghan airport official showed an AP reporter a copy of the passport
of the man boarding the plane in the name of Brent L. Bennett. The
official asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Idema, who is serving a five-year sentence at the prison, also told the
AP that Bennett was being flown out of the country on Saturday.
No U.S. officials in Afghanistan would comment on Bennett's case, and
an American lawyer filing paperwork on his behalf said he didn't know
if Bennett was free or in U.S. custody. When Bennett boarded the plane
he was not wearing any restraints.
"We don't know if he was forcibly put on the plane or not because they
probably knew people would be watching," lawyer John Tiffany said by
phone from the United States. "I'm hoping that there were no
constraints."
Edward P. Birsner, the consul at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, said in
Friday's court filing that the "embassy has no intentions of taking Mr.
Bennett into custody."
A spokesman for the embassy declined to comment on the case Saturday.
Bennett had been sentenced to three years in prison. Carabello, who
said he was a video journalist, was released in April.
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