Mourad Benchellali

Mourad Benchellali is a French citizen, who was captured and detained in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps.^[1] His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 161.^[2]

Benchellali is the younger brother of Menad Benchellali, an alleged graduate of the Derunta training camp, who it is claimed, received chemical weapons training.^[1] Benchellali and Nizar Sassi are alleged to have traveled to Afghanistan on forged passports.^[3]

Benchellali is reported to have directed Mourad, and a friend, Nizar Sassi, to go Afghanistan. ^[4]

Benchellali was transferred from US custody to French custody in July 2004.^[5] Although originally convicted in France, his trial was overturned and he was released in February 2009.^[6]

On February 17, 2010, the Court of Cassation, a higher court, ordered a re-trial of the five men.^[7]

Accounts of his detention

Benchellali has published a book describing his experience traveling to Afghanistan, his capture, and detention.^[8] Following the first three suicides at Guantanamo the New York Times published an op-ed by Benchellali, entitled "Detainees in despair".

In the op-ed Benchellali described how he came to spend two months in an al Qaeda training camp:

"In the early summer of 2001, when I was 19, I made the mistake of listening to my older brother and going to Afghanistan on what I thought was a dream vacation. His friends, he said, were going to look after me. They did — channeling me to what turned out to be a Qaeda training camp. For two months, I was there, trapped in the middle of the desert by fear and my own stupidity."

Benchellali said that his training didn't make him an enemy of the United States, that as soon as his course was finished he made his way to the Pakistan border, so he could fly back to France. But, by the time he got there he learned of the al Qaeda attacks of September 11, 2001, and that, as a result, the border was closed. He crossed the border through an unguarded mountain pass, but was soon captured by Pakistani authorities.

Benchellali concluded his op-ed with:^[8]

"I believe that a small number of the detainees at Guantánamo are guilty of criminal acts, but as analysis of the military's documents on the prisoners has shown, there is no evidence that most of the 465 or so men there have committed hostile acts against the United States or its allies. Even so, what I heard so many times resounding from cage to cage, what I said myself so many times in my moments of complete despondency, was not, "Free us, we are innocent!" but "Judge us for whatever we've done!" There is unlimited cruelty in a system that seems to be unable to free the innocent and unable to punish the guilty."

The McClatchy interview

On June 15, 2008 the McClatchy News Service published articles based on interviews with 66 former Guantanamo captives. McClatchy reporters interviewed Mourad Benchellali in France.^[9][10] Benchellali acknowledged he was born in a radical family, but said he was not a radical beliefs himself:

"It was June 2001, and I thought I'd take a vacation, be back in time for classes in September. Later, the papers would say I was a desperate outsider, trapped looking in on an uncaring nation. But that's not true. I was happy. I was getting an education. I had a job. I had a fiancee. I just thought I wanted a bit of adventure."

During his interview Benchellali described his brother tricking him into traveling to Afghanistan, described what it was like to attend the training camp: a lot praying; lectures on jihad; physical training; some weapons training, which did not include any weapons.^[10]

Benchellali described one female interrogator who: "undressed in front of him as she purred questions".^[10]

French trial

Benchellali, and four other French citizens, were convicted in 2007 of "criminal association with a terrorist enterprise."^[11] They had their convictions overturned on appeal on February 24, 2009. Their convictions were overturned because they were based on interrogations conducted in Guantanamo, and the interrogations were conducted by French security officials, not law enforcement officials.^[6] On February 17, 2010, the Court of Cassation, a higher court, ordered a re-trial of the five men.^[7]

See also

• Nizar Sassi
• Imad Kanouni
• Brahim Yadel
• Karim Bourti
• A Profile of 517 Detainees through Analysis of Department of Defense Data

References

1. ^ ^{a b} An Al Qaeda 'Chemist' and the Quest for Ricin, Washington Post, May 4, 2004
2. ^ "Mourad Benchellali - The Guantánamo Docket". The New York Times. http://projects.nytimes.com/guantanamo/detainees/161-mourad-benchellali. 
3. ^ Remand for French Guantanamo four, Washington Post, August 1, 2004
4. ^ Nizar Sassi: A French Detainee Waiting to Return Home, Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism
5. ^ French Push Limits in Fight On Terrorism: Wide Prosecutorial Powers Draw Scant Public Dissent, Washington Post, November 2, 2004
6. ^ ^{a b} New York Times, Terror convictions overturned in France, February 24, 2009
7. ^ ^{a b} Nicolas Vaux-Montagny (2010-02-17). "France orders 5 former Gitmo inmates back to court". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2010-02-17. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fhostednews%2Fap%2Farticle%2FALeqM5glw9fmMmPBK6o3H7k_lzmjIR4rBwD9DU5QC00&date=2010-02-17. 
8. ^ ^{a b} Detainees in Despair, New York Times, June 14, 2006
9. ^ Tom Lasseter (June 15, 2008). "Guantanamo Inmate Database: Page 2". McClatchy News Service. http://services.mcclatchyinteractive.com/detainees?page=2. Retrieved 2008-06-16.  mirror
10. ^ ^{a b c} Tom Lasseter (June 15, 2008). "Guantanamo Inmate Database: Mourad Benchellali". McClatchy News Service. http://detainees.mcclatchydc.com/detainees/19. Retrieved 2008-06-16. "It was an al Qaida camp. Benchellali claims that he and Nizar had never heard of al Qaida and knew nothing about international terrorism. After they arrived, he said, they realized that the camp wasn't merely for religious studies and wasn't at all what they had hoped to find. In fact, all al Qaida camps were military training facilities."  mirror
11. ^ "Paris Court Acquits Former Guantanamo Detainees". Huffington Post. 2009-02-24. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/24/paris-court-acquits-forme_n_169433.html. Retrieved 2009-02-24. 

External links

• Report on ex-Guantánamo prisoners reveals systematic abuse and chronic failures of intelligence Andy Worthington
• McClatchy News Service - video

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Name	Benchellali, Mourad
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Short description	Guantanamo detainee known to have been released
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