User:Geo Swan/gitmo/Said Abasin

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Kabul taxi driver -- father an airline official

Released March 26, 2003

An exception was Said Abasin, a Kabul taxi driver whose father, an airline official in Afghanistan, had loudly protested his son's captivity for months. Abasin said he was relieved and excited to be home, but could not forgive American officials for keeping him so long. "I am an innocent man who did nothing," he said.
Saeed Abbasin, one of the 18 Afghans recently released by the US authorities, said on Wednesday here that he hopes Americans could pay for his missing taxicab and the time he fiddled in US military custody at the Cuban island.


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Said Abasin (also transliterated as Saeed Abbasin) is a former Afghani taxi driver who was detained as a suspected terrorist in Camp Delta in the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Abasin was one of 18 Afghan detainees repatriated on March 22, [2003]], and released on March 26, 2003. Abasin claimed he was innocent, and, according to Xinhau News Abasin said he had a certificate of his innocence. None of the detainees was given any compensation, other than a knapsack, American running shoes, and a set of western clothes.

Abasin said he was not captured on the battlefield. He was driving his cab, and was conveying two passengers. Abasin cab was seized by the local authorities who captured him.

The Washington Post reports that Abisin differed from most detainees in that Abasin's father, an airline official in Afghanistan, had been actively advocating for his release. Abasin's father was there to meet him on his release. The detainees were released without any funds, and most were compelled to rely on charity to get home.

Abasin is the Pashtun name for the Indus River.

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