An Italian judge ordered a former Guantanamo detainee released from jail on Monday. The former detainee, a Tunisian named Adel Ben Mabrouk, had been convicted of terrorism-related charges.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Mabrouk’s defense attorney claimed that both prosecutors and defense lawyers argued that Mabrouk’s detention at Guantanamo was “inhumane” and “illegal.” Therefore, the judge sentenced him to a two-year suspended sentence. Mabrouk’s time at Guantanamo was considered “time served” toward his sentence.
Member of the Sami Essid network
Mabrouk was arrested on three occasions in Italy (1989, 1992, and 1998) for his involvement in narcotics trafficking. After his third arrest, Mabrouk spent a year and a half in prison before being released in 1999.
But Mabrouk was not just a drug dealer in Italy, according to declassified documents produced at Guantanamo. He became involved in businesses that catered to illegal immigrants, including selling “used cell phones…to immigrants with no valid residency documents” and running a “temporary employment agency” that found work for unskilled laborers. Those illegal immigrants included al Qaeda members.
Mabrouk was allegedly a member of the al Qaeda-affiliated Sami Essid network, which operated out of the Italian Islamic Cultural Institute in Milan. Sami Essid is included on the United Nations’ list of Taliban and al Qaeda associates and members, and he was imprisoned in Italy for his leadership role in the Tunisian Combat Group (TCG), a known al Qaeda affiliate.
After the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Italian authorities closed down Milan’s Islamic Cultural Institute because it was used as a hub for terrorist activity. In particular, the Essid network assisted terrorists belonging to al Qaeda’s affiliates in North Africa as they moved to and from Afghanistan as well as other jihadist hotspots.
One memo prepared for Mabrouk’s case at Gitmo describes the Essid network as including “former Tunisian criminals and delinquents who after their integration into Islamic extremist groups advocate jihad.” Among other activities, the Essid network was “active in falsifying travel documents, counterfeiting money, [stealing] vehicles and trafficking narcotics.”
Mabrouk allegedly used his cell phone business to assist members of the Essid network. One memo produced at Guantanamo notes that a “known member” of Essid’s group “used a phone card registered to” Mabrouk. In addition, a “known member” of the Algerian Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC), another al Qaeda affiliate based in North Africa, used a “phone card registered to” Mabrouk in 1998.
The Gitmo files also note that Mohamed Ben Brahim Saidani, “the leader of the GSPC cell in Bologna,” Italy, was tied to Mabrouk. Saidani allegedly “drove a vehicle owned by” Mabrouk. Saidani was arrested in August 2001 and sent to Tunisia, where he is “serving a life sentence.”
Interestingly, Saidani was “identified as the leader of the Islamic militant movement Al-Takfir Wa Al-Hijra in Italy.” The Al-Takfir Wa Al-Hijra is one of the most extreme jihadist groups in existence. It is so radical that even some al Qaeda members have found it to be too extreme. Mabrouk was allegedly “identified as associated with” an Al-Takfir Wa Al-Hijra cell in Bologna.
Mabrouk is not the only member of his family to join the Essid network. Two of his brothers also allegedly joined. Italian authorities suspected that one of Mabrouk’s brothers was involved in a terrorist plot and indicted him in 2005.
Trip to Afghanistan in 2001
In early 2001, Mabrouk traveled to Afghanistan. During his combatant status review tribunal (CSRT) at Gitmo, Mabrouk claimed he traveled to the Taliban’s state simply because “I became a Muslim when I was in Europe.” Mabrouk told his tribunal: “My country was very tough on the Muslims. Afghanistan was a country where they were willing to take anybody, you don’t need any money to live there, and they welcome all the Muslims.”
Mabrouk also denied any association with al Qaeda in making the trip, but that claim is contradicted by his known terrorist ties in Italy. It is also contradicted by Mabrouk’s own admissions in the context of his denials during the CSRT hearing.
When asked by a Tribunal member whether he stayed at the “House of Algerians” in Afghanistan, Mabrouk responded: “That’s true, I did.” Mabrouk denied knowing that the facility was run by al Qaeda. But US officials explained in declassified memos that the House of Algerians in Jalalabad “provide[d] training on the Kalashnikov, the use of electronic components for creating explosive devices and facilitates travel for Mujihadin recruits.”
A memo prepared for another detainee’s case at Gitmo describes the House of Algerians as “a staging point or safe house for Europeans and North Africans traveling to and from training.”
Mabrouk admitted that he received training on the Kalashnikov at the House of Algerians. “Since I did not go into the [Tunisian] army,” Mabrouk explained, “I wanted to learn something about the Kalashnikov or the other weapons, and I don’t think this is a crime.” Mabrouk claimed that he never fired the weapon because he was trained inside the home.
Mabrouk denied being encouraged to go to Afghanistan, but told his tribunal that “there was a guy who helped me go to the Algerian safehouse.” Mabrouk said the man is named Abd al-Fatah and that they met in the mosque in Milan.
US intelligence officials identified Abd al-Fatah in declassified documents as an “al Qaeda network member,” who “recruited North African immigrants in Italy to fight in Afghanistan.” Al-Fatah “provided false documents, organized routes, collected expense money and ensured religious training.” Furthermore, Fatah was Mabrouk’s “mentor.”
Fatah helped Mabrouk get an Iranian visa and guided him to Afghanistan. Mabrouk admitted during his CSRT hearing that he transited through Meshad, Iran, which is a known al Qaeda and Taliban transportation hub.
After the Sept. 11 attacks, Mabrouk admittedly fled to the Tora Bora Mountains. He claimed during his CSRT hearing, “I heard of the bombing and the fighting, but I did not see any.” Of course, Mabrouk’s flight to the Tora Bora Mountains is consistent with al Qaeda’s retreat in late 2001, when Osama bin Laden ordered the jihadist forces to regroup there.
Mabrouk then slipped across the border into Pakistan, where he was detained by Pakistani authorities. He was transferred to American custody and eventually shipped to Guantanamo.
Transfer to Italy
On Nov. 30, 2009, the Department of Justice announced that Mabrouk and another Tunisian detainee were transferred to Italy. The two were “the subject of outstanding arrest warrants in Italy,” the DOJ explained, “and will be prosecuted there.”
The other Tunisian detainee transferred is Mohamed Ben Riadh Nasri, who was convicted of terrorism-related charges earlier this year and sentenced to six years in prison. [See LWJ report, Italian court convicts former Gitmo detainee of terrorism charges.]
Nasri will reportedly appeal his sentence, given that Mabrouk received only time served at Guantanamo plus a suspended two-year sentence. It remains to be seen if Nasri’s sentence will be commuted.
In announcing the two Tunisians’ transfer to Italy, the DOJ said that the US would “ensure the transfers take place under appropriate security measures and will continue to consult with the government of Italy regarding these detainees.”
One possibility mentioned in press accounts of Mabrouk’s case is that he could be returned to his native Tunisia. Given the unrest there, however, it is not clear how the “appropriate security measures” negotiated by the US government for Mabrouk’s transfer would be maintained.
3 Comments
Regular courts cannot handle warriors on jihad.
Period.
Liberal judges cannot be trusted. Keep all these scummy folks at Gitmo, forever. OR: Take no prisoners (after info. extracted).
How (or why) does our brave military keep sacrificing when this hapens? God bless them all and keep them safe.
This is a perfect example of why in certain specific contexts – which require specialised knowledge and know-how – the judiciary cannot be relied upon to ajudicate aptly in regards to a suspects association (longstanding, in this case) with radical/AQ elements. Judges in Italy have already ruled in the past,btw, that participating in the iraqi insurgency constitutes no crime whatsoever…not exactly groundgreaking jurisprudence! The unprecedented nature of the current jihadist threat and the fact it was so spectacularly under-researched and overlooked for decades means today your average magistrate knows about the inner workings of qaeda networks and people as much as my goldfish does. Judges should be assigned required reading and a “Polad” to navigate their way towards proper sentencing of jihadis…ie- never release em back into society!