US/Canada Al - Qaida Suspects Released in Pakistan

[Timber Loftis]

From NY Times:

Al - Qaida Suspects Released in Pakistan
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 4:47 p.m. ET

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) -- Two naturalized Americans and their Canadian cousin, held for nearly three months on suspicion of links to al-Qaida, were released from a Pakistani jail Wednesday, their lawyer and relatives said.

The Lahore High Court had ordered the release, ruling that prosecutors failed to justify the detention of U.S. citizens Omar Karar Khawaja and Khyzar Ali and Canadian citizen Usman Ali Khawaja.

``They're all right, though they seem tired,'' their uncle, Ahmad Nadeem Khawaja, told The Associated Press. ``Thank God, anyway, they are safe and sound. We are happy, and hope that two other family members will be released soon.''

The men's fathers -- Dr. Ahmad Javed Khawaja and his brother, Ahmad Naveed Khawaja -- remain in police custody and are awaiting trial.

Dr. Khawaja, a gastroenterologist, has American citizenship, and his brother is a Canadian citizen.

The five men -- all natives of Pakistan -- were apprehended in December for allegedly harboring members of the al-Qaida terror network after a shootout with police at their family compound in a village east of Lahore.