Five Moroccans held for nearly three years at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay — including a suspected bodyguard for Osama bin Laden — went on trial here [Rabat]charged with posing a threat to national security. Arrested in Pakistan and Afghanistan in late 2001, all five were accused of taking training courses in how to handle firearms and make explosives. Soon after the trial opened Monday at a Rabat criminal court, lawyers for the group won a two-week postponement until Dec. 20 to better prepare their defense. The court denied a request that the defendants be released from prison during the trial. Among the five was Abdelleh Tabarak, 49, suspected of serving as a bodyguard for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in Sudan and Afghanistan. After spending two years and eight months at the U.S. detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the men were turned over to Moroccan authorities in August.
| Here's hoping they were thoroughly drained before finally being dumped. On the bright side, the Moroccans don't seem that enamoured of catch and release, either. |
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