Guantanamo Algerians back in Bosnia

After nearly seven years at the US detention center at Guantanamo Bay, three Algerian-born naturalized Bosnian citizens have returned to Sarajevo after a US judge ruled last month that the US government had failed to make a case for holding five of the six men, known as the "Algerian Group."

However, Bosnian security officials are not welcoming them with open arms, believing that despite their acquittal, the Algerians represent a security risk for the country.

Boudella al Hajj, Mustafa Ait Idr and Mohammed Nechle arrived at Sarajevo International Airport late on Tuesday, welcomed by family and some 30 members of the radical Islamic Wahhabi movement.

After arriving in Sarajevo, the three were transferred to protective custody and then released to see their families. Nechle's wife and children have been living in Algeria for the last several years, while Al Hajj and Ait Idr told reporters they intended to continue to live in Bosnia.

Al Hajj, Nechle, Ait Idr, Bensayah Belkacem, Lakhdar Boumediene and Sabir Mahfouz Lahmar were arrested by Bosnian authorities in October 2001 in the Bosnian cities of Sarajevo, Zenica and Bihac. They were held in Bosnian custody during a three-month investigation into US claims that the men had plotted an attack on the US and UK embassies, causing their temporary closure.

The investigation produced no evidence to justify their continued detention and the six men were then ordered released by the Bosnian Supreme Court, at the recommendation of the prosecutor. However, just hours before their release in January 2002, the six were handed over to the US Army base in Bosnia and deported to Guantanamo Bay.

Earlier this year, the US government dropped the embassy bombing allegations but still holds that the men had been planning to go to Afghanistan to fight against the US and coalition troops there.

The three were released based on the 20 November decision by Judge Richard J Leon, who ruled that the US administration had failed to provide sufficient evidence to imprison them indefinitely as enemy combatants. The six brought the case to a US federal court following a June decision by the US Supreme Court to allow detainees to challenge their imprisonment in civilian courts.

In the first such case, Judge Leon said the US government failed to prove that five out of the six detainees had planned to travel to Afghanistan to fight US forces - an allegation based on a single source whose reliability and credibility, according to the judge, was not satisfactory.

The judge said the government's secret evidence in the case had been weak and that the information gathered on the men had been sufficient for intelligence purposes but not for the court. "To rest on so thin a reed would be inconsistent with this court's obligation," Judge Leon said. The release of three proves that the US Justice Department gave up on fighting the release order, despite vows to do so immediately after the judge announced his ruling.

Though five of the Algerians have been ordered released, Judge Leon approved the detention of the sixth, Belkacem Bensayah, who is accused of helping others fighters travel to Afghanistan to join al-Qaida in its attacks against US targets. The judge found that the government had demonstrated an adequate link to al-Qaida in this case.

Bosnian and US investigators proved that Belkacem Bensayah indeed had been in contact with close associates of Osama bin Laden.

In late 2001, Bosnian Federation anti-terror police received a document from the US embassy in Sarajevo saying that Bensayah (aka Abu Al Maid) had been in telephone contact with Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn (aka Abu Zubaydah).

However, defense lawyers argue that a scrap of paper found in Belkacem's apartment containing the alleged telephone number of Abu Zubaydah was planted and that the number was not operational.

The US alleges that Bensayah's mobile phone records show 70 calls to Afghanistan in October 2001. Bosnian police suspect Bensayah of forging at least two passports for himself, one Yemeni and one Algerian.

Of the six arrested five had Bosnian passports while one had a Bosnian residence permit. One month after their arrests, Bosnian authorities moved to revoke their citizenships. However, earlier this year, the Bosnian government reversed its own decision and returned Bosnian citizenships to the three released.

Two of the five acquitted by Judge Leon, Saber Lahmar and Lakhdar Boumediene, were not released because they do not have Bosnian citizenship. Should they also be returned to Bosnia, they would be transferred to the extradition prison.

Lahmar never had Bosnian citizenship, residing in Bosnia with permanent residence permit, while Bosnian authorities stripped Boumediene of his after saying he had given false information when he applied.

However, the Bosnian government's decision to accept the three was strongly opposed by the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina's anti-terror unit and the Bosnian Security Agency (OSA), both of which claim that all six represents a danger for the country's security.

An ISA Consulting source from OSA said that in early December, at the government's request, the OSA issued a report on the Algerian Group, concluding that they should be labeled as potential threats to national security. The report advised the government not to allow their return to the country.

Following a November visit to Bosnia by John Clint Williamson, US ambassador for war crimes, the OSA advised ministers not to accept their return, according to a source close to the case. However, the source could not disclose whether any new evidence against the group has been uncovered. The source said that since the "potential threat" label is still valid, the three released Algerians will remain under constant surveillance by the OSA and Federation agents.   

It is unlikely that the Bosnian government deliberately chose to disregard the advice of its own intelligence services, and that the decision to return the three to Bosnia was pressured by US officials. During and after Williamson's visit, the Bosnian Security Ministry hesitated in making a decision in the matter and failed to make necessary preparations should the three be returned to Bosnia.

A year and half ago, the opposition Social-Democratic Party (SDP) - which was in power at the time the Algerian six were sent to Guantanamo - drafted a proposal for the return of Guantanamo prisoners. The draft was passed in the state parliament and delivered to the government for finalization, but has since stalled.
 
Under the draft bill, Bosnian authorities guarantee that any returnees from Guantanamo do not present a potential threat to Bosnian or US interests. However, the Bosnian government is in no position to provide such guarantees, as the OSA report pointed out, especially considering the fact that the members of the Algerian Group have been held for nearly seven years under harsh and inhumane conditions, making them ripe for terror recruitment.