PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Pakistan Thursday deported two Tanzanian nationals arrested more than two years ago on suspicion of having links with Al-Qaeda, an official said.
Moso Muhammad, 27, and Taha Yalfan, 28, were sent to Dubai from Peshawar airport for their onward journey to the Tanzanian capital Dar Es Salaam, a security official who requested anonymity told AFP.
The pair were apparently arrested in November 2002 in Pakistan's lawless tribal area while sneaking in from Afghanistan.
"My clients have been sent home after they were found innocent by the court," lawyer Qazi Anwer told AFP.
A former MP, Javed Ibrahim Paracha, who sympathises with Muslim causes, had submitted an appeal for their release in Peshawar's High Court.
"The court ordered the authorities to release both men on December 4, 2003, but they had to remain in jail awaiting their travel documents," Paracha told AFP.
"What an injustice it was, that innocent Muslims were made to spend so many years in prison with no crime."
The International Committee of the Red Cross arranged for the families of the Tanzanians to send travel documents and plane tickets to the Pakistani authorities, after which they were deported, he said.
Since President Pervez Musharraf allied himself with the United States after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, Pakistan has arrested around 700 Al-Qaeda suspects.
Most have been handed over to the US and taken to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
Pakistan's major catches have included chief 9/11 planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Tanzanian Ahmad Khalfan Ghailani, who was on the FBI's most wanted list for the 1998 bombing of US embassies in East Africa.
04/28/2005 15:40 GMT