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December 17, 2005
Czech Republic: Islamist is "Mentally Ill" Says Wife
We reported on December 13 that Oussama Kassir, a Lebanese-born Swede, had been arrested in Prague on Sunday 11 December. In Manhattan in a US District Court, an indictment against Kassir was unsealed. This claimed that Kasir had conspired to set up a training camp for jihadists in Bly, Oregon in 1999.
Today, Ceskenoviny relates that Oussama Kassir's wife, Zeinab< has claimed that her husband is suffering from mental illness. She has claimed that he had repeatedly sought psychiatric help from therapists.
Speaking to the Swedish newspaper Expressen, she said that her husband has been lying in bed without sleep, and he suffers from "recriminations". She claims the isolation in prison will make his condition worse.
39-year old Oussama Kassir is currently in Pankrac prison in Prague while the US works out an extradition order.
Oussama Kassir came to Sweden in 1984 and five years later he became its citizen. He was sentenced for violent crimes and drug dealing. In 1991, he was sentenced to six years in prison for drug smuggling and illicit arms possessions. Along with other people, he smuggled 63 kilograms of hashish to Sweden.He was imprisoned in Sweden in 1998 for threatening a policeman, and while inside he claimed to be a "hitman for Bin Laden" and a supporter of al-Qaeda.
Expressen brought one of Kassir's former psychiatrists to speak of his former patient, under a condition of anonymity. The psychiatrist did not mention religion, but said that Kassir always felt persecuted.
Kassir has apparently told Czech prison authorities that he has problems. Kufa Mirek, a prison inspector, has said that Kassir did not feel good, that he slept all the time and suffered from a deep depression.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at December 17, 2005 3:15 PM
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