A New York journalist who waged his own war on terror, torturing Afghans who he believed were Al Qaeda terrorists or Taliban members, has been released after spending nearly two years in jail, the BBC reported.

Edward Caraballo, 44, was one of three Americans who were arrested when Afghan authorities raided a house in Kabul. They discovered eight Afghans being held captive.

His fellow captors, Jonathan Idemaand and Brent Bennett, both American, were found guilty of running a jail and torturing captives in September 2004. They remain in prison, serving out their five- and three-year sentences.

Caraballo, a New York-based documentary filmmaker, has been released two months early after the intervention of the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, according to the BBC. Caraballo told the Associated Press he was feeling “jubilant and happy.”

“I am still worried that something could happen to me as I leave, but I am optimistic that I will get home safely,” he told the Associated Press by telephone minutes before leaving his prison cell.

Idema, a former special forces soldier, is believed to be a bounty hunter attracted by the multimillion dollar reward America put on the head of Osama bin Laden and other top Al Qaeda terrorists.

Idema, however, insisted he had been approved by Afghan and American authorities – a claim American officials denied – and that Caraballo was merely a journalist recording him at work.

Afghan authorities were outraged by the discovery of the secret jail, which came at the same time as the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal in Iraq.