An Algerian criminal court acquitted former Guantánamo Bay [2] detainees Abdulli Feghoul and Terari Mohamed on Nov. 22, according to the Algérie Presse Service. Feghoul and Mohamed were repatriated [3] 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 [4] of Algerian Guantánamo detainee Farhi Saeed Bin Mohammed. In September, a judge denied [5] the habeas corpus petition of Algerian detainee Sufiyan Barhoumi [6]. Since the US Supreme Court's 2008 decision in Boumediene v. Bush [7], 30 Guantánamo detainees have been released based on unlawful detention suits. (Jurist [8], Nov. 23)
There have been charges that ex-Guantánamo detainees in Algeria have continued to face human rights abuses [9].
See our last posts on Algeria [10] and the torture scandal [11].
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