5 Czechs Who Were Missing in Lebanon Arrive Home

PRAGUE — Five Czechs who had been missing in Lebanon since July and presumed kidnapped arrived home on Thursday, but the joyful response has since been tempered by revelations that Prague released two terrorism suspects, apparently as part of a deal to secure their release.

On Thursday, the Czech government freed from detention two men who are wanted by the United States — Ali Taan Fayad, a citizen of Lebanon who is also known as Ali Amin, and Khaled el-Merebi, a citizen of Ivory Coast — on the same day that the Czech citizens were freed.

Mr. Fayad and Mr. Merebi — and another citizen of the Ivory Coast, who was not released — were arrested in Prague in 2014 and accused of terrorism and drug trafficking. American officials said they had tried to sell weapons to undercover American law enforcement agents who had posed as Colombian terrorists. Mr. Fayad left the Czech Republic on Thursday.

“We are dismayed by the Czech government decision to release Ali Fayad and Khaled El Merebi,” the American Embassy said in a statement. The United States had sought for the extradition of all three men to the United States. The embassy said there was “no justification” for releasing the two prisoners, adding, “It will only encourage criminal groups and terrorists all over the world.”

The Czech defense minister, Martin Stropnicky, told the daily newspaper Hospodarske Noviny that the five Czechs had been released in exchange for a guarantee that Mr. Fayad would not be extradited, though Mr. Stropnicky later appeared to backtrack somewhat and endorsed the Foreign Ministry’s line that the Czech Republic does not negotiate with terrorists.

The foreign affairs minister, Lubomir Zaoralek, has denied that there was an exchange deal, according to Reuters.

After the criticisms from the American Embassy here, the Czech justice minister, Robert Pelikan, said he had spoken with the United States ambassador, Andrew H. Schapiro, and “cleared things up.” He did not provide further details. Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said the authorities had followed Czech law and that the republic’s allies should respect its decision.

The five Czechs vanished last July; their vehicle was found abandoned in eastern Lebanon. On Monday, the Lebanese authorities announced that the five had been found, and negotiations to secure their return to the Czech Republic soon followed.