Nizar Sassi (born August 1, 1979) is a citizen of France who was detained by the United States in their naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.[1] His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 325.[2]
Sassi was transferred to Guantanamo Bay in 2002. He was repatriated to France on July 27, 2004.[3] Sassis remained in French custody until January 9, 2006. Although originally convicted in France, his trial was overturned and he was released in February 2009.[4]
Sassi worked for the Venissieux Council.[5] Venissieux is a suburb or Lyon.
According to his brother, Aymen, Nizar traveled to Pakistan to learn formal Arabic.[6]
Security authorities claim Sassi travelled to Afghanistan in 2001 at the direction of Menad Benchellali, an alleged al Qaeda recruiter.[7] Mourad Benchellali and Sassi are alleged to have traveled to Afghanistan on forged passports.[8]
Nizar Sassi and four other men stood trial on terrorism charges upon their return to France.[9] The five men's conviction were overturned in February 2009, because they had improperly been interviewed by France's intelligence officials, who were not authorized to act in a law enforcement role. On February 17, 2010, the Court of Cassation, a higher court, ordered a re-trial of the five men.
Mourad Benchellali's 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.[10][11] In his interview Mourad described how he and Nizar were tricked into traveling to Afghanistan by his older brother Menad Benchellali. He described how they found Afghanistan nothing like what they expected. He described not speaking Pashtu, Dari or Arabic, but they met some Algerians who spoke French, who suggested they attend a religious camp.
During his interview Mourad described what it was like to attend the training camp: a lot of praying; lectures on jihad; physical training; some weapons training, which did not include any weapons.[11] He said he and Nizar realized the only way to leave the camp early was to fall ill, so they pretended to fall ill, only to be sent to the camp infirmary. But then he said Nizar really did fall ill, eventually losing 45 pounds.
Mourad described reconnecting with Nizar after his time at the camp was over, and asking the Algerians for help leaving Afghanistan.[11] They told them they would have to wait a few weeks while arrangements were made, but then the USA attacked, and it was not possible to leave.
French trial[]
Nizar Sassi, and four other French citizens, were convicted in 2007 of "criminal association with a terrorist enterprise."[12] 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.
Bibliography[]
- (German) Nizar Sassi: Ich war gefangen in Guantanamo - Ein Ex-Häftling erzählt Heyne, München, 2006, ISBN 3-453-12095-7
- (Italian) Nizar Sassi: Prigioniero 325, Delta Camp. Einaudi, Torino, 2006. ISBN 88-06-18471-7
- (Spanish) Nizar Sassi: Guantanamo, Prisionero 325, Campo Delta. Edaf S.A. 07/2006 ISBN 84-414-1802-0
- (Norwegian) Nizar Sassi: Fange 325 : dokumentar fra Guantánamo-leiren Oslo, Aschehoug, 2006. ISBN 82-03-23408-9
See also[]
- Mourad Benchellali
- Imad Kanouni
- Brahim Yadel
- Karim Bourti
- Khaled ben Mustafa
- Redouane Khalid
References[]
- ↑ Guantanamo man finally freed, News24, January 11, 2004
- ↑ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006
- ↑ Transfer of French Detainees Complete, US Department of Defense, July 27, 2004
- ↑ New York Times, Terror convictions overturned in France, February 24, 2009
- ↑ Mr. Aymen Sassi, Brother of Nizar Sassi, American Civil Liberties Union, March 9, 2004
- ↑ Relatives of detainees at Guantanamo tell of fear, anger: Families are in the US to put a face to what they say is the unlawful detention of suspected terrorists in Cuba, Taipei Times, March 9, 2004
- ↑ Nizar Sassi: A French Detainee Waiting to Return Home, Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism
- ↑ Remand for French Guantanamo four, Washington Post, August 1, 2004
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 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
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 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."
- ↑ "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[]
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The original article can be found at Nizar Sassi and the edit history here.