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July 11, 2006
France: Five Guantanamo Muslims Should Get One Years' Jail
We reported on July 4 that six former detainees of Guantanamo, who were sent back to France in 2004 and 2005, began a trial on 3 July, accused of "associating with criminals in relation to a terrorist enterprise."
Those accused are Imad Achab Kanouni, 29, Khaled Ben Mustapha, 34, Redouane Khalid, 38, Brahim Yadel, 36, Mourad Benchellali, 25, and Nizar Sassi, 26. All six are charged with "associating with criminals in relation to a terrorist enterprise". Benchellali and Nizar Sassi (pictured) are further charged with counterfeiting.
Give of the individuals accused are already out on bail, and only Brahim Yadel is currently detained in custody.
Yesterday, states News24.com, two of the accused said that they had been tricked by Ar Qaeda. 25-year old Mourad Benchellali said that he had been tricked by his own brother, Mened Benchellali, who sent him to an Al Qaeda camp near Kandahar in July 2001.
Mened has been separately convicted in another trial.
Mourad claimed: "When I arrived at the camp, I quickly became angry with my brother. I found myself in a world he'd told me nothing about. I met very dangerous people, I did terrible things. He took me into a world that was not my own."
Mened Benchellali had also persuaded Nizar Sassi to join up and go to the Kandahar camp. Sassi had been approached by the elder Benchellali brother in a Lyon mosque in May 2001.
Defense lawyers claimed that the men had gone to Afghanistan to visit the country, or in the case of Nizar Sassi, to practice his shooting skills.
Once in Kandahar, Benchellali claimed that he and Sassi had been bundled into a bus, unaware of their final destination. He said: "We were in the home of some Algerians in Kandahar, with young people from lots of different countries. They were cheerful, singing, and we followed the general movement. We thought it might be a shuttle bus for the town centre. ...But we drove all night, only to find ourselves in a camp lost in the middle of the desert."
"We didn't like it. We were disappointed right away. We asked to leave, but the rule is once you're in you can only leave if you fall sick," he said.
Nizar Sassi said: "It's true I like weapons....t's a cultural thing. In my neighbourhood, in Venissieux, the guy with a gun gets respect. And Afghanistan was scary: if you could say you'd been there, everyone would respect you. I'd sold my car, I'd brought a lot of money with me to buy bullets. ...But we couldn't even buy any. In total I fired just 15 shots."
Mourad benchellali agreed, and said: "The rest was just Arabic lessons. I didn't understand a word. I just felt guilty about being there."
Certain of the accused claim that their passage to Afgnaistan was arranged by a London-based network. All deny fighting against coalition troops.
Today, the prosecutor has made recommendations for sentencing.
This is my translation from Le Monde.
Frenchmen of Guantanamo: One Years' Jail Requested For 5 Of The Accused
The public prosecutor requested on Tuesday at Paris, before the correctional tribunal of Paris, one year in a closed prison for five of the six French former detainess of Guantanamo.
Five years of detention, of which four suspended was asked in the case of Brahim Yadel, the only one to be still in custody, on account of his "previous terrorist history".
In the case of the four other accused, Mourad Benchellali, Nizar Sassi, Khaled Ben Mustapha, Redouane Khalid, the prosecutor Sonya Djemni-Wagner demanded four years' detention, of which three to be suspended, so that they do not "return into detention."
In the course of an indictment which lasted more than ten hours, she indicated "Unable not to take into account their abnormal detention in Guantanamo," while still asking the judges to "say that they are guilty."
On the other hand, for Imad Achhab Kanouni, against whom there rested the slightest of evidence, she estimated "there was not the power to require a penalty."
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at July 11, 2006 7:32 AM
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