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December 2, 2005

France: Islamist Bomb Suspect Rachid Ramda Returns

We mentioned earlier the case of Rachid Ramda, the Algerian man who has been detained in the UK for ten years while British courts have blocked efforts to extradite him to France. Ramda, aged 35 now, was a key suspect for a bombing in Paris on the Metro (subway) station at St Michel. This blast, on 25 July 1995, killed eight people and injured 87.

The blast was the worst of a series. The explosives had been packed into a glass bottle, also containing nails, so the explosion caused horrific injuries.

In France, he faces charges of being a conspirator in the St Michel Metro bombing. He is also facing 23 charges of financing and organising a bomb campaign in France which went on from August to November 1995. The picture above shows wreckage at the blast scene in the Musee D'Orsay station which did not cause fatal injuries.

Following the explosions, Ramda fled to Britain, where he applied for asylum using a fake identity. He was arrested in November, 1995, on an extradition arrest warrant from France.

Ramda (pictured below left, in a courtroom sketch) is said have belonged to the Algerian terror group - Groupe Islam Arme. He has been detained at HMP Belmarsh, the high security detention centre which houses several other Islamists.

In mid-November Ramda faced another court hearing, an appeal case at the High Court, which he lost.

On 30 October 2002, two other Algerians, Boualem Bensaid and Smain Ait Ali Belkacem, were convicted of their part in the 1995 Paris bombings. The men were already serving 10 year jail sentences for being part of the Groupe Islam Arme, and they were given life sentences for their involvement with the Metro bombings, which in all injured 200 people. Bensaid was also serving a 30 year sentence, for a failed mission to attack a high speed train travelling from Lyon to Paris, when he was given the life sentence.

Rashid Ramda, according to the Times today, arrived on French soil at Le Bourget airport outside Paris last night. He was met by police, who took him into custody.

The ten year delay meant that Ramda was Britain's longest-serving extradition prisoner. His detention has caused mild rifts between France and the UK.

After the blasts on London Transport on 7/7, the French Prime Minister, Dominique de Villepin, lobbied Tony Blair to bring a speedy resolution tot he extradition of Ramda.

A former member of France's General Directorate for External Security, the foreign intelligence service, commented: "Can you imagine how the British would react if France caught the alleged moneyman behind the July 7 bombings, and ten years later he was still fighting extradition?"

In his native country of Algeria, Rachid Ramda had been sentenced to death before he even got involved with the Paris bombings. He was convicted in 1993 for an attack upon the airport at Algiers, which killed 9 and wounded 123.

Yet despite all this, British judges and others have maintained that he has been treated unfairly. There are various campaign sites on the internet, which until last night's extradition finally happened, aimed to have him released from British custody, such as this site.

The campaigners for Ramda argue that he will be executed if he is returned to Algeria, and state that the evidence from a witness in France was gained by "unfair treatment".

The group to which Ramda belonged, the GIA, claimed responsibility for the French Metro attacks. Another suspect from the affair, Ali Touchent, was killed in Algiers in 1997.

The BBC states that supporters claim that he could be deported eventually from France to Algeria, where he would face the possibility of execution. One wonders at the mentality of these "campaigners."

Eight people died in the St Michel blast, with eight sets of family members and friends not seeing justice for 10 years while Britain's judiciary obfuscated on the matter. Ramda should face justice, even if he is innocent and gets cleared, for the sake of those families. The campaigners for Ramda would have had him released to face no court hearing or trial, so that justice is never seen to be done, and closure for relatives would be denied.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at December 2, 2005 4:23 PM

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