By ELAINE SCIOLINO
Published: July 28, 2004
ARIS, July 27 - Four French citizens held without trial for more than
in France on Tuesday and were immediately detained by the French
authorities under the country's tough antiterrorism laws.
The four men, who were captured during the American-led war in
Afghanistan on suspicion of serving as fighters for the Taliban, were
repatriated after what President Jacques Chirac of France called "long
and intense negotiations" with the Bush administration.
Speaking to journalists during a visit to Madagascar, Mr. Chirac also
thanked "all those who contributed to their return," particularly the
International Committee of the Red Cross.
Mr. Chirac said the four men would be dealt with under France's
judicial system. "Justice will be done," he said.
Under French law, the men can be kept under investigation for 96 hours
on suspicion of "criminal association with a terrorist enterprise."
The continued detention of hundreds of foreign suspects arrested in
sparked a huge outcry in France and around the world.
An editorial in Le Monde on Tuesday said, "If the prisoners are
cleared of all charges, this will be a hard new blow for the
credibility of the 'war against terrorism' waged by President Bush
regardless of either national or international law or morality."
France is still pressuring the United States to repatriate three other
The Bush administration has taken the position that the prisoners are
"enemy combatants" with no right to contest their detention in
American civilian courts. But the Supreme Court rejected that argument
last month, affirming the prisoners' right to challenge their
detention in court.
Even before the ruling, the administration began to release some of
the suspects. Before Tuesday, 135 prisoners had been repatriated and
released, and another 12 who had been repatriated were still in
detention in their home countries, according to the Pentagon. The camp
The four Frenchmen - Mourad Benchellali, Brahim Yadel, Imad Kanouni
and Nizar Sassi - were flown to a military base in Normandy in a
chartered French military plane, and they were turned over for
questioning to France's counterintelligence agency, the Directorate
for Territorial Surveillance. They will also appear before France's
most prominent antiterrorism investigating magistrate, Jean-Louis
The men's lawyers and families have not yet been allowed access to
them.
Mr. Benchellali, 24, was arrested by American troops in Afghanistan in
February 2002. He is the brother of Menad Benchellali, who is under
arrest on suspicion of planning to bomb Russian targets, including the
Russian Embassy in Paris, in 2002 after Russia's crackdown in the
Russian Muslim region of Chechnya.
Their father, Chellali Benchellali, a Muslim cleric from the Lyon
also under arrest in connection with the plot.
Mr. Yadel was wanted in France in an investigation into a training
camp set up by Islamic militants in the late 1990's in the
Fontainebleau forest near Paris.
Jacques Debray, a lawyer who represents Mr. Benchellali and Mr. Sassi,
said Tuesday that "their families are tremendously happy" about their
repatriation.
-
"The State Department officially released its annual terrorism report
just a little more than an hour ago, but unlike last year, there's no
extensive mention of alleged terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden. A
senior State Department official tells CNN the U.S. government made a
mistake in focusing so much energy on bin Laden and 'personalizing
terrorism.'"
-- CNN, 4/30/2001.
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