Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Europe

Belgium Tries Iranian Diplomat over Bomb Plot

2020-11-28

[AnNahar] An Iranian diplomat goes on trial in Belgium on Friday accused of plotting to bomb an opposition rally outside Gay Paree, in a case that has stoked tensions with Tehran.

The case shines another uncomfortable light on Iran's international activities just as it hopes to ease tensions with the United States after President Donald Trump
...the Nailer of NAFTA...
tore up the 2015 nuclear deal signed by both countries and other world powers.

It also comes a day after a prisoner swap that saw the release of three Iranians tossed in the calaboose
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
over a 2012 bomb plot in Thailand, in exchange for the freeing of an Australian-British lecturer imprisoned by Tehran for alleged spying.

The Australian is Kylie Moore-Gilbert. The three Iranians generously given in trade by Thailand are Saeid Moradi (“Stumpy”), Mohammad Kharzei, and Masoud Sedaghatzadeh.

In June 2018, Belgian authorities thwarted what they said was an attempt to smuggle explosives to La Belle France to attack a meeting of one of Iran's exiled opposition movements.

Later that year, the French government accused Iran's intelligence service of being behind the operation, a charge the Islamic republic has furiously denied.

Assadollah Assadi, a 48-year-old Iranian diplomat formerly based in Vienna, faces life in prison if convicted.

The National Council of Resistance® in Iran
Iran

...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate ~~Jews~~ ~~Zionists~~ Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
(NCRI), which includes the People's Mojahedin of Iran or (MEK), organised a rally in Villepinte outside Gay Paree on June 30, 2018.

Several well-known international figures -- including former US and British officials and Franco-Colombian former senator Ingrid Betancourt -- and NCRI leader Maryam Rajavi were to attend.

On the same morning, Belgian police intercepted a Belgian-Iranian couple driving from Antwerp and carrying half-a-kilo of TATP explosives and a detonator.

The arrested couple, 36-year-old Nassimeh Naami and 40-year-old Amir Saadouni, join Assadi in the dock, alongside another alleged accomplice, Mehrdad Arefani, 57.

All four are charged with attempting to carry out a terrorist attack and taking part in the activity of a terrorist group. All face life sentences.

Assadi was arrested while he was travelling through Germany where he had no immunity from prosecution, being outside of the country of his diplomatic posting.

Arefani, an Iranian poet who had lived in Belgium for more than a decade, was arrested in La Belle France in 2018 after Belgium issued a European arrest warrant.

- 'ABSOLUTELY FURIOUS' -
Counsel representing those targeted by the alleged attack say Arefani was close to Assadi, said to be the architect of the plot, and point to an Austrian SIM card found in his possession.

The two men deny any connection.

"We are looking at a clear case of state terrorism
... any action taken by a non-Moslem state that constrains the violent impulses of Moslems or their allies ...
," said lawyer Georges-Henri Beauthier, who is representing the interests of the NCRI, along with French colleague William Bourdon.

Dimitri de Beco, defence counsel for Assadi, has accused the civil plaintiffs of trying to turn the case into a political trial on behalf of the opposition movement.

According to Iran expert Francois Nicoullaud -- a former French ambassador to Tehran -- Iran's President Hassan Rouhani
...Iran's moderate president, which he is, relative to his predecessor, which doesn't mean he's anything but a puppet of the nearest holy man...
was surprised to learn about the failed attack.

"Visiting Europa
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
at the time, he was absolutely furious to learn about this intelligence service operation, on which he hadn't been consulted," the diplomat told AFP.

At the time of the alleged plot, Rouhani was trying to maintain the support of European capitals for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal abandoned by the Trump administration.

When Gay Paree pointed the finger at Iranian intelligence, an Iranian front man voiced denial and alleged that opponents of the deal in "certain quarters" were attempting to frame Tehran.

That idea was dismissed by observers like Nicoullaud as a smokescreen. "It's not serious," he said.

The trial is scheduled to take two days, Friday and then Thursday next week. The court is then expected to adjourn to consider its verdict before ruling early next year.

Link

Iraq

Three French Female Jihadists Risk Death Sentence in Iraq

2018-01-24

[AnNahar] Three French women who joined the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group before being captured by Iraqi forces could be facing the death penalty

as they await trial in Baghdad, sources close to their cases told AFP.

The women were detained after Iraqi fighters ousted the jihadists from djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
last July, one source said, confirming a report on RMC radio.

One 28-year-old woman left in 2015 for the group's "caliphate" stretching over parts of Syria and Iraq along with her husband, who has reportedly been killed.

She is being detained with her daughter, who was born after their arrival.

"We don't know what exactly she is accused of, what her detention conditions are like and whether she is being allowed the means to defend herself," said the woman's lawyer, Martin Pradel.

He said he had received "no response" from La Belle France's foreign ministry on the case, for which the Red Thingy has been his only source of information.

A second woman, a 27-year-old named as Melina, also left for the region in 2015, and is being held with her baby. Her three older children have been returned to La Belle France.

"We expect La Belle France, if Melina is sentenced to death, to mobilize with the same intensity it has for other French citizens sentenced to death, in particular Serge Atlaoui," said her lawyers, William Bourdon and Vincent Brengarth. French diplomats have waged an intense campaign to free Atlaoui, who is being held in Indonesia and facing the death penalty on drug trafficking charges.

That was just drugs. These people voluntarily joined the most evil enterprise currently on Planet Earth.

But government officials have said French fighters placed in durance vile
Book 'im, Mahmoud!
in Syria and Iraq should be tried there if they can be guaranteed a fair trial.

Or something that looks kinda sorta fair if one squints very, very hard.

Defense minister Florence Parly said Sunday that "we can't be naive" regarding French citizens who left to join IS.

"When they are caught by local authorities, as far as possible they should be tried by these local authorities," she told La Belle France 3 television.

- Children detained -
On Sunday, an Iraqi court condemned a German woman to death by hanging after finding her guilty of belonging to IS, the first such sentence in a case involving a European woman.

In December, an Iraqi-Swedish man was hanged along with 37 others accused of being IS or al-Qaeda members, despite efforts by Sweden to have the prisoner serve a life sentence instead.

Iraqi authorities have not disclosed how many jihadists are being held prisoner since the counter-offensive that dislodged IS fighters from the country's urban centers last year.

Around 40 French citizens, both men and women, are currently in detention camps or prisons in Syria and Iraq, including about 20 children, a source close to the matter has said.

On Monday, Parly reiterated that she had "no qualms" regarding the fate of French jihadists, despite requests by some of them to be repatriated.

"These jihadists have never had any qualms about what they're doing, and I don't see why we should have any for them," she said.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Families of captive French jihadists sue to bring them home

2018-01-19

The hard jihad of the sword didn’t work out for them, so they’ve moved to the soft jihad of the law.

[IsraelTimes] Relatives of detainees in Syrian Kurdistan, held over involvement with Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
, claim country has duty to repatriate them

The wives and children of French jihadists captured in Syria have filed a legal complaint against French authorities for refusing to repatriate them, their lawyers announced Wednesday.

The question of what to do with some 40 captured jihadists ‐ men and women, accompanied by around 20 children, who were living under the Islamic State group ‐ has been hotly debated in recent weeks.

The French government said on January 4 that those detained in Kurdish-held areas of Syria ‐ the vast majority of the cases ‐ should be left there so long as they can be guaranteed a fair trial.

But their lawyers argue that La Belle France has a duty to repatriate its citizens. The complaint by six families against La Belle France involves women and kiddies held in Syrian Kurdistan.

"These women who went out there are the object of legal proceedings in La Belle France," lawyers Marie Dose, William Bourdon, Martin Pradel and Marc Bailly said in a statement.

"They accept that they must face up to their criminal responsibilities as soon as they arrive on French territory."

By leaving them there, French authorities are "additionally exposing these mothers and children to obvious risks ‐ notably in terms of their health, in a war zone."

The families have filed a legal complaint against French authorities for arbitrary detention and abuse of authority, the statement said.

Their lawyers argued that Syrian Kurdistan is not a legally recognized state and so "these women and kiddies are being held in unauthorized detention."

The vast majority of jihadists detained in La Belle France are being held by Kurdish forces in Syria, according to a source close to the case.

The lawyers had yet to specify how many families were involved in the suit.

But they are not believed to involve the most prominent Frenchwoman in Kurdish detention, the notorious Islamic State propagandist Emilie Konig, a 33-year-old Moslem convert from Brittany.

Konig, who features on UN and US blacklists of dangerous turbans, was captured last month and is being held in a Kurdish camp with her three young children along with several other French women.

Her lawyer Bruno Vinay has said previously she has requested to be brought to trial at home in La Belle France.

Link

Europe

Suspect in 1980 Paris synagogue attack ordered back to jail

2016-05-25

[FRANCE24] A French court on Tuesday ordered the chief suspect in a deadly attack on a Gay Paree synagogue in 1980 to be sent back to jail, ten days after he was released on bail.

Hassan Diab, a Lebanese-Canadian sociology professor who were tossed into the calaboose for 18 months, is accused of being part of the Special Operations branch of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine (PFLP).

The PFLP was blamed for the bombing on October 3, 1980 that left four dead and around 40 injured.

Targeting the synagogue in rue Copernic, western Gay Paree, it was the first major attack on a Jewish site in La Belle France since World War II.

Diab, 62, was extradited from Canada in November 2014 and charged with the attack. He maintains his innocence and denies he was a member of the PFLP.

On May 12, a judge authorised his release on bail after ruling there was doubt over the "fundamental question" of whether he was in La Belle France on the day of the attack.

His ex-wife had told Sherlocks that he was in Beirut on September 28, 1980, despite stamps in his passport indicating that he was already in Europe.

Federal prosecutors appealed the May 12 decision, leading an appeals court Tuesday to order him sent back to jail.

"It's a very unfair decision," Diab's lawyer William Bourdon said.

Bernard Cahen, lawyer for one of the civil parties to the case, said that "on the merits of the case, we are absolutely convinced of his guilt".

"The defence will struggle to destroy this case," he added.

Diab has been charged with murder, attempted murder and destruction of property as part of a terrorist enterprise.

Link

Europe

Suspect in 1980 Paris synagogue attack freed on bail

2016-05-18

[IsraelTimes] Ex-wife of Lebanese-Canadian Hassan Diab says he was in Beirut at the time, though his passport stamps indicate he was in Europe

The chief suspect in a deadly attack on a Gay Paree synagogue in 1980 has been released on bail after being held for 18 months, judicial and investigation sources told AFP Tuesday.

Hassan Diab, 62, is accused of being part of the Special Operations branch of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine (PFLP). The PFLP was blamed for the bombing on October 3, 1980, that left four dead and around 40 injured.

Diab, a Lebanese-Canadian sociology professor, was extradited from Canada in November 2014 and charged with the attack.

The bombing of the synagogue in rue Copernic, western Gay Paree, was the first major attack on a Jewish site in La Belle France since World War II.

But Diab was released on bail on Saturday after a judge ruled there was a doubt on the "fundamental question" of whether he was in La Belle France on the day of the attack.

Diab’s ex-wife told Sherlocks that he was in Beirut on September 28, 1980, despite stamps in his passport indicating that he was already in Europe by that date, a source close to the investigation told AFP.

If it wasn't him, then to whom did he loan his very own precious passport for the duration?

The judge said her statement should be treated with caution but had to be taken into account, the source added.

The Gay Paree prosecutor’s office has appealed the decision.

Diab has been charged with murder, attempted murder and destruction of property as part of a terrorist enterprise.

He has always maintained his innocence and denied being a member of the PFLP.

His lawyer, William Bourdon, said there was "strictly no risk of flight. He will be present for the next hearing before the court of appeal," where he could be returned to jail.

Link

Europe

French Court Summons Ex-Guantanamo Chief in Torture

2015-04-03

*Sigh*

[AnNahar] A French court on Thursday summoned former Guantanamo prison chief Geoffrey Miller over accusations of torture by two ex-detainees, in a move their lawyer said would open the door to further prosecutions.

Nizar Sassi and Mourad Benchellali, both French citizens, were tossed in the calaboose
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
by U.S. forces in Afghanistan before being transferred to the notorious prison set up in Guantanamo Bay to hold terror suspects after the 9/11 attacks. They were held there from the end of 2001 until 2004 and 2005 respectively, before being sent home.

A French probe into their case began after they filed a complaint in court.

"The door has opened for civilian and military officials to be prosecuted over international crimes committed in Guantanamo," their lawyer William Bourdon said.

"This decision can only... lead to other leaders being summoned."

Despite promises by U.S. President Barack Obama
teachable moment...
to close the prison, which is located in Cuba's Guantanamo Bay -- an area on the east of the island under U.S. control since a treaty signed in 1903 -- it remains open and still houses detainees without charge.

The U.S. presence at Guantanamo Bay, where it also has a naval base, is one of the major stumbling blocks in Washington and Havana's historic move towards normalizing ties.

In an expert report submitted to a French judge last year, lawyers for Sassi and Benchellali accused Miller of "an authorized and systematic plan of torture and ill-treatment on persons deprived of their freedom without any charge and without the basic rights of any detainee."

Miller, who was commander of the prison from 2002 to 2004 and is now retired, "bears individual criminal responsibility for the war crimes and acts of torture inflicted on detainees in US custody at Guantanamo," according to the report.

Just before Miller became commander of Guantanamo in late 2002, president George W. Bush's administration approved so-called enhanced interrogation techniques, including placing detainees in stress positions, stripping them, isolating them for extended periods of time and exposing them to extreme heat and cold. Miller then implemented these methods.

And even though then-secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld withdrew permission for the most controversial of these interrogation techniques shortly thereafter in January 2003, "under ... Miller's command at Guantanamo, these techniques continued to be used in certain cases," the detainees' lawyers said last year.

"These acts constitute torture and violate, at a minimum, the Geneva Convention's prohibition on coercive interrogations."

Sassi and Benchellali are not the only detainees alleging torture during their time at the prison. Former Syrian detainee Abdul Rahim Abdul Razak al Janko had wanted to sue the U.S. government for damages stemming from his treatment while held at Guantanamo for seven years until his 2009 release.

In his complaint, Janko cited years-long solitary confinement, lengthy bouts of sleep deprivation, "severe beatings," threats against him and his family, sexually explicit slurs against his female relatives, deprivation of adequate medical and psychological care, as well as "continuous" humiliation and harassment. But last month, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal, as well as another by a U.S. rights group.

Link

Southeast Asia

Malaysian Submarine Scandal Surfaces In France

2010-04-17

A potentially explosive scandal in Malaysia over the billion-dollar purchase of French submarines, a deal engineered by then-Defense Minister Najib Tun Razak, has broken out of the domestic arena with the filing of a request to investigate bribery and kickbacks from the deal in a Paris court.

Although the case has been contained for eight years in the cozy confines of Malaysia's courts and parliament, which are dominated by the ruling National Coalition, French lawyers William Bourdon, Renaud Semerdjian and Joseph Breham put an end to that when they filed it with Parisian prosecutors on behalf of the Malaysian human rights organization Suaram, which supports good-government causes. For two years, Parisian prosecutors have been gingerly investigating allegations involving senior French political figures and the sales of submarines and other weaponry to governments all over the world. French news reports have said the prosecutors have backed away from some of the most serious charges out of concern for the political fallout.

The allegations relate to one of France's biggest defense conglomerates, the state-owned shipbuilder DCN, which merged with the French electronics company Thales in 2005 to become a dominant force in the European defense industry. DCN's subsidiary Armaris is the manufacturer of Scorpene-class diesel submarines sold to India, Pakistan and Malaysia among other countries. All of the contracts, according to the lawyers acting for Suaram, a Malaysian human rights NGO, are said to be suspect.

With Najib having moved on from the defense portfolio he held when the deal was put together in 2002 to become prime minister and head of the country's largest political party, the mess has the potential to become a major liability for the government and the United Malays National Organisation. Given the power of UMNO, it is unlikely the scandal would ever get any airing in a Malaysian court, which is presumably why Suaram reached out to French prosecutors.

A source said police have confined their inquiry to bribery allegations so far and have not looked into the 2006 murder of a Mongolian woman in Malaysia who was a translator on the deal for Najib and his friend, Abdul Razak Baginda, during a visit to Paris. There have [also] been numerous deaths involving DCN defense sales in Taiwan and Pakistan. Prosecutors are suspicious that 11 French submarine engineers who were murdered in a 2002 bomb blast in Karachi first thought to have been the work of Al Qaeda were actually killed in retaliation for the fact that the French had reneged on millions of dollars in kickbacks to Pakistani military officers.

As defense minister from 2000 to 2008, Najib commissioned a huge military buildup to upgrade Malaysia's armed forces, including two submarines from Armaris and the lease of a third, a retired French Navy Agosta-class boat. There were also Sukhoi supersonic fighter jets from Russia and millions of dollars spent on coastal patrol boats. All have come under suspicion by opposition leaders in Malaysia's parliament but UMNO has stifled any investigation. Asked personally about the cases, Najib has responded angrily and refused to reply.

Link

Europe

New trial for France's 'Guantanamo six'

2007-12-05

A Paris court Monday heard details of a controversial French secret service mission to Guantanamo at the start of the retrial on terrorism charges of six former inmates at the US base.

At the end of the original trial last year, Judge Jean-Claude Kross refused to hand down a verdict, saying he needed to know more about the Guantanamo mission -- whose very existence France initially denied. Mourad Benchellali, 26, Nizar Sassi, 27, Khaled Ben Mustapha, 35, Redouane Khalid, 39, Brahim Yadel, 37, and Imad Achab Kanouni, 30, were captured in 2001 during the US-led war to oust the Taliban in Afghanistan and handed over to US forces. Held for up to three years at the Guantanamo detention centre in Cuba, they were charged upon their return to France in 2004 and 2005 with "criminal conspiracy in relation to a terrorist enterprise. But defence lawyers argue that any information derived from their questioning by French intelligence officials in Guantanamo, outside of any legal framework, should be classed as inadmissible evidence.

On Monday judge Kross read out several reports by the DST domestic intelligence agency, declassified for the purposes of the trial, which he said "give us a knowledge of the DST's activities" in Guantanamo "and the framework in which all of this happened."

The DST files describe the six defendants' links to well-known Islamist circles including figures cited in several terrorism cases, but say they have committed no offence prosecutable in France. In a note dated February 2004, former DST chief Louis Caprioli wrote: "In case of a repatriation, there is no guarantee they will be placed under investigation and jailed, since they are linked to no activities in France liable for prosecution."

Lawyer William Bourdon welcomed the declassification of the intelligence reports. "We hope the court will draw the consequences of the extreme disloyalty with which the French secret services behaved towards the French detainees Guantanamo," he told reporters. "We hope that the court will recall the law: by saying that no one can be convicted if the proof was secured by disloyal means. Acquittal is the only outcome."

During their initial 10-day trial last year, some of the six admitted to staying in Afghan camps linked to Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, but all denied fighting US forces or planning attacks in Europe.

Last year the French state attorney called for all but Kanouni to be found guilty, but asked for lenient, one-year prison sentences, saying their "abnormal detention" in Guantanamo should be taken into account. Though none is currently in detention, all six spent periods in pre-trial custody and could therefore expect to avoid jail. All but Yadel -- held up for professional reasons -- were present for Monday's hearing. The trial is set to run until December 12.

Link

Europe

French Gitmo detainees want US general quizzed

2007-11-06

Two French ex-detainees at the Guatanamo Bay prison camp have asked French judges to question US General Geoffrey Miller, the camps former commander, as part of a probe into allegations of torture and illegal arrest. Lawyers William Bourdon and Jacques Debray representing the two former prisoners asked investigating judges last month to summon General Geoffrey Miller as quickly as possible and consider charges if he fails to cooperate, according to a letter seen by AFP.

Two chances of the good general appearing, slim and none.

The two ex-prisoners, Nizar Sassi and Mourad Benchellali, have filed a complaint for illegal arrest, arbitrary detention and torture after they were captured in Afghanistan in late 2001 and sent to Guantanamo in early 2002.

Standard al-Q tactics; complain of torture.

They were transferred to France in July 2004 and went on trial in 2006 on terrorism charges. Hearings in that trial are due to resume next month.

Nice speedy hearing. I sense the hand of Carla del Ponte.

The lawyers argued that Miller, who ran the detention camp of prisoners taken in the US-led war on terror from its 2002 opening until 2003, had a personal responsibility in the management of Guantanamo in total violation of international law and French law.

Just more leftie harrassment. Let's see how quickly Sarko handles this.

Link

Europe

Ex-Guantanamo detainee freed in France

2005-03-11

Mustaq Ali Patel was released after being held by French authorities for 48 hours and was met by his family, his lawyer William Bourdon said. The detention of the other two prisoners sent back to France, Ridouane Khalid and Khaled Ben Mustafa, was expected to be extended on Wednesday evening, a law enforcement source told AFP. Khalid, 36, has two brothers already under investigation for alleged terrorism-related crimes,

If I recall correctly, they were fooling around with ricin and other fun chemicals...

while Ben Mustafa, 33, a married father of two, went to Afghanistan to learn Arabic, according to his family and lawyers.

"Bye honey! Bye kiddies! I'm off to Afghanistan to learn...ummm...!cibarA I'll be back...ummm...later, insh'allah! Stay away from the infidels, y'hear?"

Law enforcement sources have said Patel, who is aged about 40 and was born in India, has not figured in any investigations into terrorism. Patel, who was ~~told by the imam to tell~~ said by police sources to have suffered psychological trauma during his detention, was reported to have been an imam at a French mosque and has family in Britain. He had lived in Afghanistan for many years before his arrest in 2001. His case had posed legal problems for France, until he was officially granted French nationality through his marriage to a woman from La Reunion, experts have said.

So he wasn't really a French citizen, they just made up some paperwork for...what? Embarassing the US?

Link

Europe

Detainee in 'wrong place at wrong time'

2005-02-26

Mustaq Ali Patel is one of the last three French detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. His family members say they cannot figure out why he is there in the first place.

Something to do with explosives, was it? Or a hand saw?

Cousins of the Indian-born former imam say Patel, 45, was just a victim of bad luck and bad timing who had settled in Afghanistan in the early to mid-1990s long before the US-led invasion of the country. Patel was one of seven French citizens captured in the US-led campaign that toppled the hardline Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Four have returned to France, and all spent more than two years at Guantanamo. "As a family, we all believe he was in the wrong place at the wrong time," said one cousin, Luqman Dawod, a British citizen who arrived from Manchester on Wednesday to meet one of Patel's French lawyers.

Downtown Konduz, holding a rocket launcher? Wrong place. November, 2001? Wrong time.

"We don't believe he has done anything wrong."

"He's a good, responsible lad. Always keeps his weapons clean, never plays with his grenades."

Haroon Patel, another cousin, who runs a convenience store in Manchester, said: "He is not a terrorist, he was a good person." They said they did not know when Patel was detained.

"He just turned up there one day. Nobody knows how he got there. But we know he's innocent, by Gum!"

French officials said this month that US authorities indicated the "possibility" that Patel and two other French nationals Ridouane Khalid and Khalid Ben Mustafa could soon be handed over to France. "They've said that time and time [again], but I don't hold my breath any more," said Dawod.

Okay, then. We won't. Will that cause you to hold your breath?

Four other French citizens once held at Guantanamo Mourad Benchellali, Imad Kanouni, Nizar Sassi and Brahim Yadel returned to France in late July and are being held as part of an investigation into suspected terror-related networks. Patel's case appears different, his lawyer said. "As for Mr Patel, from what I know, we're looking at a series of bad coincidences and slightly disastrous random events," said French lawyer William Bourdon.

"Now, they might seem unlikely, esecially the part about the gypsies and the trained bear, but..."

"He was in Afghanistan long before the Taliban" ran the country, he said. Bourdon, who also represents Sassi and Benchellali, said they had indicated "harassment, humiliation and insults" at Guantanamo but did not suffer sexual abuse that some other former detainees have recounted. Patel's cousins said he had drifted out of contact with the family about 10 years ago and no relatives knew he was in Afghanistan until they received a letter from him through the mail early last year.

"Dear Mom, How are you? Well, here I am in Guantanamo..."

Patel became a citizen of France through marriage to a French woman. The cousins said they have lost contact with her but say she is believed to live in La Reunion, a French island in the Indian Ocean. His mother, who lives in India's Gujarat state, has not heard from her son in more than 20 years but calls the British cousins about once a week to find out if they have more information, they said. Dawod, 25, said the only other letter the family had received delivered via the Red Cross indicated that "he has not been in good shape mentally", but there were no details. The cousins, who are heading the legal effort in France, said they could not confirm news reports saying that Patel had been an auto parts vendor in Afghanistan.

Link

Europe

France, U.S. agree to release three more French held at Gitmo

2005-02-09

PARIS -

The United States has agreed to hand over to France three French detainees at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, judicial officials said Tuesday. The agreement was finalized just as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was to arrive in Paris for a meeting with President Jacques Chirac, the officials said on condition of anonymity.

"We're done with them. Here." "Ewwww. Er, thanks, Condi."

The date of the hand-over of the three French detainees - Mustaq Ali ~~"Pierre"~~ Patel, Ridouane ~~"Jaques"~~ Khalid and Khaled Ben ~~"Michael"~~ Mustafa - has not been finalized yet, the officials said. "Things are headed in the right direction, and we are now discussing the details," said William Bourdon, an attorney for Ali Patel, who has both French and Indian nationality. Four French citizens who were detained in the US-led military campaign that toppled Afghanistan's Taleban regime in 2002 returned to France in August. They are being held as part of an investigation into suspected terror-related networks.

Link

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