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| Six Frenchmen released from Guantanamo to be tried |
| 2006-07-02 |
| Six Frenchmen released from the US base in Guantanamo are to face trial in Paris for allegedly being recruited to fight in Afghanistan. Imad Achab Kanouni, Khaled Ben Mustapha, Redouane Khalid, Brahim Yadel, Mourad Benchellali and Nizar Sassi all face charges of "associating with criminals in relation to a terrorist enterprise". The latter two are also indicted on counterfeiting charges. Their trial starting Monday is expected to run to July 12. All the suspects except Yadel, who remains in detention, were freed by French authorities in the months following their repatriation from Guantanamo in July 2004 and March 2005. A seventh Frenchman who was held in Guantanamo and turned over to French authorities has since been cleared of any wrongdoing and faces no charges. The prosecution alleges that the six on trial were recruited from 1998 by an Algerian Rachid Boukhalfa, also known as Abu Doha, who is being held in a British prison. Boujhalfa, an Algerian, is suspected of having planned al-Qaeda attacks in the United States. The six went to Afghanistan between March 2000 and August 2001. Prosecutors allege they underwent guerrilla training in an al-Qaeda camp near Kandahar. They were captured by US troops after the 2001 invasion and sent to Guantanamo when the notorious US base there was converted in January 2002 to detain fighters deemed "illegal combatants". |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #2 the worst aspect of being at the camp was the despair, the feeling that whatever you say, it will never make a difference Glad to hear that, because SCOTUS did say we could hold them there indefinitely. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-07-02 12:33 |
| #1 Implicit French support for the existence of Guantanamo. |
| Posted by: Kratos 2006-07-02 12:25 |