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BAGHDAD — Task Force 134 Detainee Operations, in its continuous effort to fairly release rehabilitated detainees from the population, has released over 14,150 detainees so far this year. A significant number of the total released for the year happened during the holy month of Ramadan. As of the end of the fourth week of Ramadan, 2,404 detainees have been returned to their families and communities in recognition that they no longer pose a threat to Iraqis. The current releases have brought the total internee population in Coalition forces’ custody to about 17,900 as of, Sept. 29, 2008. “These are not...

KIRKUK — In the spirit of reconciliation and during the observance of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Sheik Abdullah Sami Al Asi Obeydi, a Kirkuk Sunni Arab Provincial Council member and tribal leader, was reunited with his cousin, Shakn Abdullah Mushed Al-Rahma Obeydi, after a ten-month separation, here at Forward Operating Base Warrior, Sept. 27. Abdullah Mushed was detained by the Coalition in November for supporting insurgent activity in the province of Kirkuk. The release was facilitated by the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division. During the month of Ramadan, Muslims ask forgiveness for past sins, pray for...

For Immediate Release April 30, 2008 The faith-based organization TEAM, located in the United States, announces that it has arranged for an aircraft operated by a medical non-governmental organization in Chad to fly to Bardai to receive Steve Godbold, who has been detained by rebel forces since October 10, 2007. TEAM also offers to allow a representative of the international media to accompany this flight to observe the process. On April 28, 2008 the President of the MDJT, Mr. Choua Dazi, stated in an interview published by Liberté sans frontières and posted at www.dabio.net that Mr. Godbold is “free” and...

Jack Straw yesterday closed a loophole in prison release rules that saw two terrorists freed early to ease overcrowding. Yassin Nassari, who was caught with plans for a military rocket, was last month given his liberty 17 days early, officials admitted. Another terrorist, who is understood to be teenager Abdul Patel, benefited from the early release scheme in January. Within hours of the two cases coming to light yesterday, Mr Straw issued a hurried announcement saying terrorists would no longer be freed early. The Justice Secretary's critics said the U-turn was a sign of disarray in Whitehall. They demanded to...

Former Gov. Don Siegelman will be released from prison, after the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals granted him an appeal bond, the lead prosecutor in the case said. Acting U.S. Attorney Louis Franklin said he received a courtesy call from the court today. "He's going to be released," Franklin said. He said he was disappointed but said, "The 11th Circuit has the discretion to do that and I respect that." Kim Chandler Return to al.com for updates on this breaking story.

(IsraelNN.com) The pressure apparently worked. Tzviya Sariel, the 18-year-old girl who has been imprisoned for 3.5 months for refusing to recognize the authority of Israel's legal system in her case, is apparently scheduled to be freed at 2 PM on Wednesday. The Prosecution has summed up its case, and has said that it would not ask for more than "time served" in the event of a conviction. Tzviya's family is already preparing for her homecoming. The Case Tzviya Sariel was arrested in early December on charges of having pushed an Arab man who came to harvest olives in her hometown...

The files have finally been released.

Time served, sex offender who killed 6-year-old girl has come to live in Derry By PAT GROSSMITH AND NANCY WEST New Hampshire Union Leader DERRY – A man who strangled, then sexually assaulted a 6-year-old girl and stuffed her body into a storm drain in 1981 is living near the Derry Montessori School, a park and the public library. Douglas Allen Simmons, 47, moved into 71 East Broadway, Apt. 3, Derry, over the weekend, according to police. Yesterday, his name and photo were posted on New Hampshire's child sex offender Web site. Simmons was a 20-year-old sailor when he lured...

GLENDALE, Calif. Kiefer Sutherland has been released from jail after serving 48 days on a drunken driving charge, according to a published report. A jail spokesman did not immediately return a phone call seeking confirmation of a story on People magazine's Web site saying the 41-year-old actor walked out of jail at 12:05 a.m. Monday, hours earlier than had been expected. But People quoted police Officer John Balian as saying, "(Kiefer) looked like he was glad to be out," and that Sutherland was wearing a shirt and jeans when he left the facility. Sutherland - the star of Fox television's...

SAN FRANCISCO: Sara Jane Moore started the new year Tuesday a free woman more than three decades after a bizarre assassination attempt on President Ford that still baffles even her own attorney. "I never got a satisfactory answer from her as to why she did it," said retired federal public defender James F. Hewitt. Prison officials have offered no details on why Moore, 77, was paroled Monday from a federal penitentiary east of San Francisco, where she had been serving a life sentence. Moore had been behind bars for 32 years. The one-time aspiring film actress was 40 feet away...

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GHAZNI, Afghanistan (AFP) - The Taliban Saturday freed two women among 21 South Korean hostages held in Afghanistan as a "gesture of goodwill," a spokesman for the militia told AFP. "Our leadership council decided to free unconditionally and as a gesture of goodwill two women hostages who are sick," said spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi.

PARIS Hilton's billionaire grandfather donated money to the election campaign of the sheriff who released the 26-year-old American hotel heiress from jail, it has been revealed. The contribution from William Barron Hilton, 78, co-chairman of the Hilton Hotel chain, to Sheriff Lee Baca's re-election campaign is revealed in financial records. A friend of the Hilton family said the temporary release of the heiress last week may have been a "quid pro quo". "A member of her family has been a contributor to Baca's campaign and this may have been payback time," the friend said. "Her entourage initially were confident she...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The Pentagon on Monday released the names of six former Guantanamo detainees who U.S. officials say re-emerged as Islamist fighters in Afghanistan after their release from the U.S. military prison in Cuba. The Defense Department said three of those released from the prison for suspected militants resurfaced as senior Islamist fighters in Afghanistan while a fourth was later identified as having been a Taliban deputy defense minister. The six were among 30 former detainees who the Pentagon said have rejoined the fight against U.S. and coalition forces since their release from Guantanamo.

SAN DIEGO – San Diego's laborious and long-delayed 2003 annual financial audit is finished after three tortuous years in which the city's credit rating and reputation tumbled to unprecedented lows following a wide range of accounting errors. Mayor Jerry Sanders is set to announce at an afternoon news conference Friday that auditors from the giant accounting firm KPMG have finally stopped being suspicious of the city's accounting. The Mayor's Office said it received a two-page letter from the firm Friday. The letter, dated Monday, says that KPMG has concluded its audit and found that San Diego's financial statements “present fairly,...

American hostage freed in Nigeria An American engineer and his Nigerian driver, who were taken hostage by gunmen in Nigeria's Delta region, have been freed. The two were seized by armed men in January, together with a British man who was later freed on health grounds. The men were handed over to local officials late on Saturday. Scores of foreign workers have been kidnapped in the Niger Delta region in recent months. At least four foreigners are still being held. In many cases, hostages are freed after their companies or local government officials pay ransoms. The details of the latest...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 7, 2006 -- Three terrorists were captured in Afghanistan yesterday, and 26 detainees were released from a Bagram facility. Earlier this week, U.S. troops provided humanitarian assistance in eastern Afghanistan. During an operation near the village of Qasemaul Kalay, in Khowst province, Afghan and coalition forces captured three terrorists who posed a serious threat to peace and stability in Afghanistan, military officials said. No Afghan or coalition forces or Afghan civilians within the compound were harmed during the operation. Elsewhere in Afghanistan yesterday, 26 detainees were released from the Bagram Theater Internment Facility. Officials determined the detainees...

An off-duty U.S. Border Patrol agent was held for more than a day by Mexican authorities after crossing the border at San Luis with ammunition in his car before his release late Friday, authorities said. The unidentified agent was arrested Thursday as he entered Mexico at the San Luis Port of Entry in southwest Arizona, said Raul Berumen, a spokesman for municipal authorities in San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexico. Mexican Customs inspectors found a bag containing 650 rounds of .40-caliber ammunition in the agent's 2006 Nissan Altima, Berumen said. Possessing firearms or ammunition in Mexico is illegal and large warning...

FOX News journalists Steve Centanni and veteran cameraman Olaf Wiig were released by a Palestinian terrorist group early Sunday morning. Centanni, 60, and Wiig, 36, were abducted on August 14th and held captive for 14 days somewhere in Gaza, south of Israel. In an interview with FOX, Centanni said himself, Wiig and a so-called security man were ambushed by a group which consisted of four hooded gunmen. For the first week of Centanni's and Wiig's captivity, there was a virtual news blackout regarding this case with little or no reports on the subject coming from FOX News or any other...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A federal appeals court on Monday rejected a government request to deny the release of a top fundraiser for an Islamic charity that authorities say has ties to terrorism, his attorneys said. The move by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco came days after a federal district judge ordered the release of Abdel-Jabbar Hamdan, 45. Hamdan was to be released Monday evening, said Ranjana Natajaran of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. Hamdan has been held at the Terminal Island federal detention facility in San Pedro for more than two...

Johnny Briscoe is a free man today, after serving 23 years for crimes the state now says he didn't commit. Briscoe walked out of a state prison in Charleston, Mo., on Wednesday after serving part of a 45-year sentence for convictions involving a 1982 sexual attack on a woman ... Thanks to DNA testing, authorities confirmed ... that Briscoe was innocent and that the real rapist was already in another Missouri prison. ... St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert P. McCulloch called him ... and "apologized to him on behalf of the county, particularly for the past six years." ......

PHILADELPHIA - Lil' Kim celebrated Independence Day one day early with her release from a federal detention center Monday morning after nearly 10 months behind bars. The rapper, who was sent to prison for lying about a shootout outside a New York radio station, walked out of the jail looking glamorous in sunglasses and an all-white, cleavage-baring outfit. Carrying a balloon and a bouquet of white roses, she waved to dozens of cheering onlookers _ some carrying signs that said, "Welcome Home, Queen Bee" _ before getting into a silver Rolls-Royce. The car pulled into a nearby parking lot where...

WASHINGTON, June 28, 2006 – Coalition forces today captured an al Qaeda in Iraq terrorist in a raid at his home, one day after the Iraqi government and the coalition released 450 detainees from internment facilities, military officials reported. A noncombatant who coalition troops perceived as an imminent threat was killed. The targeted terrorist had ties to senior al Qaeda leaders throughout the region, officials said. The ground forces secured his house and detained him without incident. At the home, troops found small-arms weapons, hidden ammunition, and $4,000 in sequentially numbered U.S. $100 bills. While securing the target, officials said,...

Hardline Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir walked out of a Jakarta jail today after serving time for links to the 2002 Bali bombings. Bakir planned to return immediately to an Islamic school in central Java once dubbed the "Ivy League" of militants. Wearing his trademark white skullcap and shawl, a smiling Bashir was surrounded by supporters shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) and by media before getting into a car and being driven away. Seen by the West as the spiritual head of the al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah (JI) regional militant network, Bashir was convicted of being part of a...

WASHINGTON, June 13, 2006 – In a joint initiative, the Iraqi government and Multinational Force Iraq released more than 220 security detainees June 11 from coalition-run internment facilities, U.S. military officials reported. "You must give the government a chance and become productive members of society," Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi told some detainees prior to their release from Abu Ghraib Theater Internment Facility. The release is part of an Iraqi government plan to release up to 2,500 detainees by the end of June, U.S. military officials said. The release consists of those not guilty of serious, violent crimes such as...

Brothers arrested in terror raid freed without charge (Filed: 09/06/2006) Two brothers arrested following a controversial anti-terror raid by police during which one of the them was shot, have been released without charge. Mohammed Abdul Kahar and Abul Koyair were being questioned at London's high security Paddington Green police station after the raid in Forest Gate, east London, last week. But tonight the 20-year-old and 23-year-old were released, and a police spokesman said that the search of their home had been completed. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "We appreciate the police operation has caused inconvenience and disruption to the occupants...

WASHINGTON, May 31, 2006 – Iraqi and coalition forces captured eight terrorist leaders in recent operations in Baghdad neighborhoods. Also, the Iraqi-led Combined Review and Release Board released more than 200 detainees. Yesterday, Iraqi forces raided two targets in the Karada area of Baghdad and detained seven individuals responsible for homemade bomb attacks against Iraqi security forces. The first target was a dormitory on Baghdad Technical University's campus where two student cells, operating out of dormitory rooms, built bombs and later initiated attacks against Iraqi army and police forces. Four students were detained during this operation. At the second target,...

WASHINGTON, May 8, 2006 – Multinational Force Iraq released 299 male detainees from coalition-run prisons, and coalition forces responded to insurgent small-arms fire yesterday, military officials in Iraq reported. The Iraqi-led Combined Review and Release Board reviewed the detainees' files and recommended release. The CRRB was established in August 2004 and consists of members from the Ministries of Human Rights, Justice and Interior, as well as officers from the multinational forces. To date, the board has reviewed the cases of more than 36,700 detainees, recommending more than 18,750 individuals for release. In other news, coalition forces delivered precision munitions in...

Former Tucson sector Border Patrol agent Scott James says he caught his fair share of illegal immigrants from countries other than Mexico during his years of service with the agency. Not that it really mattered, he added. James, who resigned from the Border Patrol two months ago, said his job, like those of his colleagues, was little more than a sham. Enforcing the law was the last thing the Department of Homeland Security wanted, he said. Some illegal immigrants apprehended on the border are from Pakistan, Iraq, China and other countries considered by the Department of Homeland Security to be...

An Afghan man who faced the death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity has appealed for asylum in another country, the United Nations said Monday after hundreds of Muslims marched against a court's decision to dismiss his case.Afghan officials did not say whether Abdul Rahman had been released after the case against him was dismissed Sunday, but the U.N. statement came amid unconfirmed reports that he was being freed."We do understand that he will be released," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in Washington. "We're pleased by that."Earlier Monday, hundreds of clerics, students and others chanting "Death to Christians!"...

Released hostages 'refuse to help their rescuers' By Oliver Poole in Baghdad (Filed: 25/03/2006) The three peace activists freed by an SAS-led coalition force after being held hostage in Iraq for four months refused to co-operate fully with an intelligence unit sent to debrief them, a security source claimed yesterday. The claim has infuriated those searching for other hostages. The Canadians: Harmeet Sooden and Jim Loney Neither the men nor the Canadian group that sent them to Iraq have thanked the people who saved them in any of their public statements. One of them, Norman Kember, 74, a retired physics...

WASHINGTON, March 20, 2006 – Iraqi and coalition troops detained suspects and seized weapons caches throughout Iraq, and an Iraqi review board recommended the release of a number of male detainees being held in the country, Multinational Force Iraq officials reported. In Salah Ad Din province today, Iraqi Army and Task Force Band of Brothers units continued "Operation Swarmer." The operation was launched March 18 to clear a suspected insurgent operating area northeast of Samarra, military officials reported. Today's operation yielded an additional three caches of small-arms ammunition and rocket-propelled grenades. The combined forces also detained three men suspected of...

John "Junior" Gotti, who insists he quit the mob family run by his late father, the "Dapper Don," watched jury selection start yesterday at his racketeering retrial in Manhattan. One prospective juror was quickly disqualified: a former supervisor of the FBI's organized crime squad. The most serious charge facing Gotti is the 1992 kidnapping of radio host Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian Angels crime-fighting group, who allegedly was targeted by "Junior" Gotti because of his on-air rants against the late John Gotti.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 5, 2006 – About 50 male detainees were released today from the Theater Internment Facilities in Iraq, and Iraqi and U.S. forces helped flood victims yesterday in northern Iraq, Multinational Force Iraq officials reported. Officials said the Combined Review and Release Board reviewed the detainees' cases and recommended release. The Iraqi-led CRRB, established in August 2004, consists of members from the ministries of Human Rights, Justice and Interior, as well as officers from the multinational forces. To date, the board has reviewed the cases of more than 27,200 detainees, recommending more than 14,300 individuals for release, officials said....

WASHINGTON, Jan. 26, 2006 – About 420 detainees, including five women, were to be released from coalition detention facilities in Iraq today and tomorrow, officials announced. The Iraqi-led Combined Review and Release Board reviewed the detainees' cases and recommended that they be released. The board, established in August 2004, consists of members from the ministries of Human Rights, Justice and Interior, as well as officers from the multinational forces, officials noted. To date, the board has reviewed the cases of more than 26,900 detainees, recommending more than 14,100 individuals for release. In other news, Iraqi soldiers from the 2nd Battalion,...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 15, 2006 – Hundreds of security detainees were released from prison today, and multiple bombs and weapons caches were discovered in Iraq over the last few days, U.S. military officials reported. About 500 security detainees were released from Abu Ghraib prison. Those released were not guilty of serious or violent crimes, such as bombing, torture, kidnapping, or murder, and all have admitted their crimes, renounced violence, and pledged to be good citizens of a democratic Iraq, officials said. In other news from Iraq, a young girl phoned in a tip about a possible roadside bomb to coalition forces...

USA Today piece. Link only.

MEHMET Ali Agca, the Turk who attempted to kill pope John Paul II in 1981, was freed yesterday after almost 25 years behind bars, but may soon return to jail amid legal confusion over his early release. Less than six hours after Agca walked out of the high-security Kartal prison on Istanbul's Asian shore, Justice Minister Cemil Cicek said he would order a review of the case as a debate raged among jurists over whether his release was legally sound. Mr Cicek hinted that the 48-year-old Agca, who served 19 years in Italy for shooting and seriously wounding the pope...

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Insurgents exploded 13 car bombs across Iraq on Sunday, including eight in Baghdad within a three-hour span, but the New Year's Day onslaught killed no one and injured only 20 people, police said. A Sudanese official, meanwhile, announced that six kidnapped employees were freed after Sudan announced it would close its Baghdad embassy as demanded by the kidnappers. A Cypriot man kidnapped four months ago also was freed after his family paid a ransom, a relative said. The day's first car bomb in Baghdad exploded at about 8:15 a.m., wounding two Iraqi soldiers in an army patrol...

WASHINGTON - Almost 300 additional documents from Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito's time in the Justice Department were released Wednesday, two weeks before his confirmation hearings begin. Many of the latest documents released by the National Archives simply indicate that Alito was copied in on internal Justice Department memos, or are photocopies of decisions that were made by federal judges while Alito was working for the department during the Reagan administration. The Archives said it found the documents in the files of former Justice Department officials while processing Freedom of Information Act requests. Alito's confirmation hearing in the Senate Judiciary...

DANBURY, Conn. - A pacifist nun convicted of defacing a Colorado missile silo in 2002 was released Thursday from federal prison. Ardeth Platte, 69, was not due to be released until May 31, but a judge gave her credit for time already served, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Platte, along with sisters Jackie Hudson and Carol Gilbert, were arrested in October 2002 after they allegedly cut a chain link fence surrounding a Minuteman III missile silo in northern Colorado. The nuns then used baby bottles to dispense their own blood in the shape of a cross on the...

Terror Victims' Names Released, IDF Mulling Reponse 19:19 Dec 05, '05 / 4 Kislev 5766 By Ezra HaLevi Those killed in Monday’s attack are Alexander Zarnitzky, 65, from Netanya, Ilya Rosen, 38, from Bat Chefer, Daniel Golani, 45, from Nahariya and security guard Chaim Amram, 26, from Netanya. The name of the fifth victim in the deadly bombing has not yet been released. Residents of Netanya gathered at the site of the attack Monday evening to protest the security situation and perceived rewarding of Arab terrorism by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Defense Minister Sha’ul Mofaz, after consulting with IDF and...

The jailed son of late mob boss John Gotti neared freedom on Monday after a judge agreed to release him on $7 million bond, less than a week after declaring a mistrial on the bulk of his racketeering case. Under bail conditions approved by U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin, John A. ``Junior'' Gotti would be released from a federal lockup in lower Manhattan, but remain under house arrest in his home on Long Island until a possible retrial early next year. Gotti, 41, was still in custody Monday as paperwork was finalized. His lawyers said he could be home with...

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Two activists who had refused to testify before a grand jury investigating a 2003 arson fire allegedly set by radical environmentalists were released from jail following an order by a federal appeals court. Without explanation, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco voted 2-1 Friday to order U.S. District Judge Irma Gonzalez to set bail for David Agranoff, 31, and Danae Kelley, 21. Agranoff and Kelley were released later in the day after posting the $1,000 bond. They are not suspects in the Aug. 1, 2003 fire that destroyed a condominium complex under...

A Hollywood film in the works will depict a Canadian formerly detained at Guantanamo as a reformed young man who now rejects terrorism and his family's ties to al-Qaida. But there's evidence 21-year-old Abdurahman Khadr's true story doesn't fit the feel-good script proposed by Paramount Pictures, according to Andrew Walden, writing in FrontPage magazine. ABDURAHMAN KHADR Courtesy CBC Khadr is the son of Ahmed Saeed Khadr, a Canadian citizen whom the U.S. has accused of having direct ties to Osama bin Laden. He also is the brother of Omar Khadr, who, as WorldNetDaily first reported exclusively, is accused of killing...

(IsraelNN.com) Two of the five terrorists who planned to carry out a twin suicide bombing in Jerusalem Thursday recently were released from prison. Hamza Hassin Brigia, who lives near Bethlehem and was responsible for the Islamic Jihad infrastructure in Bethlehem, was released from administrative detention last February. Muhanad Abu Romy was recently released after having been jailed for buying weapons from Islamic Jihad terrorists. The terrorists had placed the explosives in cardboard boxes and put them inside bags with shrapnel and nails in order to increase bodily injury. One of the arguments against freeing more jailed terrorists and prisoners is...

An amateur bomb-maker in Suffolk County is in police custody this morning after testing the explosions in his back yard. Police charged 28-year-old Robert Rotella of Shore Manor with criminal weapons possession after they were told he accepted delivery of chemicals that were used to make explosives. He was arraigned yesterday in First District Court in Islip and released on his own recognizance. Rotella's neighbors simply said he is no threat to national security and that he makes fireworks for fun.

Bush, Cheney tax returns released (White House-AP) April 15, 2005 - President Bush and first lady Laura Bush earned less from their investments last year, and they also paid less in taxes. The first couple's 2004 federal income tax return indicates reported adjusted gross income of just over $784,000. That compares to more than $822,000 in 2003. The earnings include the president's salary and income from investments held in blind trust. The Bushes paid more than $207,000 in federal taxes, or about $20,000 less than in 2003. They also donated nearly $78,000 to churches and other nonprofit groups. Vice President...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - A U.N. panel critical of how the U.S.-led coalition authority in Iraq spent billions of dollars from the U.N. oil-for-food program and other sales of Iraqi oil will issue its report Monday, an official with the world body said. The U.N. Security Council set up the Iraqi Development Fund to help the U.S. Coalition Provisional Authority administer Iraq. The CPA administered Iraq from March 20, 2003, invasion to its dissolution June 28, 2004, when it handed the reins to the Iraqi interim government. The development fund consisted of money from CPA sales of Iraqi oil, millions...