An Algerian criminal court acquitted former Guantánamo Bay detainees Abdulli Feghoul and Terari Mohamed on Nov. 22, according to the Algérie Presse Service. Feghoul and Mohamed were repatriated to Algeria in August 2008 after being held at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility for seven years. The Algerian state prosecutor had sought a 20-year sentence against Feghoul and Mohamed for allegedly belonging to a foreign terrorist group. Defense lawyer Farid Abbache stated that while the former detainees admitted to involvement in theft and drug trafficking, they denied any connection with terrorist groups.

Last week, a US judge ordered the release of Algerian Guantánamo detainee Farhi Saeed Bin Mohammed. In September, a judge denied the habeas corpus petition of Algerian detainee Sufiyan Barhoumi. Since the US Supreme Court's 2008 decision in Boumediene v. Bush, 30 Guantánamo detainees have been released based on unlawful detention suits. (Jurist, Nov. 23)

There have been charges that ex-Guantánamo detainees in Algeria have continued to face human rights abuses.

See our last posts on Algeria and the torture scandal.

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