Their stories are hardly those of terrorists, part of a group described last year by Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary, as “the worst of the worst”. The man claiming to be 105 said that he was on his way to see his doctor when American forces seized him. His elderly companion said he was bedridden by illness and was too sick to fight.

The group was flown from Guantanamo Bay on Sunday and handed over to Afghan authorities in Kabul after US authorities deemed them innocent of links to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network, or Mullah Omar Mohammed, the Taleban leader.

Describing their ordeal yesterday to Taj Mohammad Wardak, the Afghan Interior Minister, the men, looking frail and tired, all said that they were innocent, although they seemed pleased with the new cotton sweatshirts and socks given to them by their jailers before their departure.

Faiz Mohammad, a shaky, white-bearded figure with shrivelled hands, was still wearing his Guantanamo identification bracelet, which gave his date of birth as 1931. But he said he was 105, and had done nothing wrong to justify his arrest in the village of Dehrawad in Uruzgan Province, 400 miles southwest of Kabul.

“The day I was arrested I was sick, so I went to see the doctor in town. Then some helicopters landed. They arrested everybody and began interrogating us. Imprisoning me was unjust and cruel. I didn’t do anything wrong. I told them the truth, then they covered my eyes.”

Babbling at times, Mr Mohammad gave an account that is difficult to verify. He said he was five during the rule of King Amanullah, which would make him at least 78. At first he said that the Americans had seized him 12 months ago.

“They interrogated me for hours at a time. They wanted to know ‘Where are you from? Are you a member of the Taleban? Did you support the Taleban? Were your relations Taleban? Did the Taleban give you weapons?’ I don’t know why the Americans arrested me. I am just an old man.”

But he was then asked if he was angry at the American soldiers who had arrested him. “I don’t mind,” he smiled. “They took my old clothes and gave me new clothes. They treated us well. We had enough food to eat. We could pray and wash with water five times a day. We had the Koran and read it all the time.”

Mohammad Siddiq, equally wizened, said he was 90, although he looked to be in his 70s. Leaning heavily on a stick, and visibly upset, he said that US troops had arrested him in a raid on his village in Paktia Province.

“It was during the night. I heard the planes bombing. Then American forces broke into my house and arrested me. They took me and put me on a plane and then I was in Guantanamo. I was there for eight months. I had done nothing wrong when they arrested me. I was very sick. I had to stay in bed. The doctors advised me to stay in bed. How can a sick man fight? They were wrong.”

The third man, Jan Mohammad, 34, was taken prisoner during a battle for Kunduz in northern Afghanistan. He said that he had been forced to join the Taleban. “I didn’t commit a single crime,” he said. “The Taleban forced me to join their ranks. I was never truly a Taleban fighter. “In each village a number of people had to join, so I went with them, then surrendered. The Americans took me to Kandahar, questioned me, put something over my eyes and took me to Guantanamo Bay. Their behaviour was good. During the past 15 days we played football together and they were sad when we left.”

There are just over 600 men from at least 42 countries being held at Guantanamo. The three men complained that they had not been able to contact their families throughout their detention. Kamal Hossain, the UN special rapporteur on human rights for Afghanistan, said the treatment of prisoners should be investigated.

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