Brahim Yadel is a citizen of France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 held in extrajudicial detention in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Guantanamo Bay detainment camp

Guantanamo Bay detainment camp

The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a detainment and interrogation facility of the United States located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. The facility was established in 2002 by the Bush Administration to hold detainees from the war in Afghanistan and later Iraq...

s, in Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

.
His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 371,
The Department of Defense

United States Department of Defense

The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...

 reports that he was born on March 17, 1971, in Aubervilliers

Aubervilliers

Aubervilliers is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.-Name:In medieval times the name Aubervilliers was recorded as Alberti Villare, meaning "estate of Adalbert"...

, France.

Although originally convicted in France, his trial was overturned and he was released in February 2009.
On February 17, 2010, the Court of Cassation

Court of Cassation (France)

The French Supreme Court of Judicature is France's court of last resort having jurisdiction over all matters triable in the judicial stream but only scope of review to determine a miscarriage of justice or certify a question of law based solely on points of law...

, a higher court, ordered a re-trial of Brahim Yadel and four other men.

Allegations of ties to terrorism

A Time magazine

Time (magazine)

Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...

 article, published on March 16, 2003, reported that Brahim Yadel was recruited by Karim Bourti

Karim Bourti

Karim Bourti is a citizen of Algeria, and former citizen of France, who was convicted of an association with terrorism.A French court convicted Karim Bourti of on association with terrorism in 1998....

.
According to the article Karim Bourti was: "...a self-described Paris-based recruiter for international jihad."

Brahim Yadel, and three other French Guantanamo captives, were repatriated to French custody on July 28, 2004,
Brahim Yadel was repatriated to France one day prior to the institution of the Combatant Status Review Tribunal

Combatant Status Review Tribunal

The Combatant Status Review Tribunals were a set of tribunals for confirming whether detainees held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp had been correctly designated as "enemy combatants". The CSRTs were established July 7, 2004 by order of U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense...

s in July 2004.

French authorities held Brahim Yadel, Nizar Sassi

Nizar Sassi

Nizar Sassi is a citizen of France who was detained by the United States in their naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 325....

, Mourad Benchellali

Mourad Benchellali

Mourad Benchellali is a French citizen, who was captured and detained in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 161....

 and Imad Kanouni

Imad Kanouni

Imad Achab Kanouni is a French citizen who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. Kanouni was captured in Afghanistan in 2001 and transferred to France on July 26, 2004...

 on charges of
"associating with criminals engaged in a terrorist enterprise."

French authorities suspected Brahim Yadel helped organize jihadist training camps in the forest of Fontainebleau

Forest of Fontainebleau

The forest of Fontainebleau is a mixed deciduous forest lying sixty kilometres southeast of Paris, France. It is located primarily in the arrondissement of Fontainebleau in the southwestern part of the department of Seine-et-Marne...

.

French trial

Brahim Yadel and five other returned Guantanamo detainees were to stand trial in France in 2006.

While all the other men free on conditional release, preceding the trial, Brahim Yadel was kept in detention.
He had violated the terms of his conditional release.

Trial delayed

The trial was delayed to allow an investigation into the conduct of French intelligence agents who interrogated the men in Guantanamo.
France had insisted French agents had not interrogated the men in Guantanamo. But leaked memos showed this was untrue.

Judge Jean-Claude Kross apologized, saying: "I am sorry, we have to start again from scratch.".

The Prosecutor has recommended lenient, one-year prison sentences, to take into account their "abnormal detention" in Guantanamo.

Conviction and appeal

Brahim Yadel, and four other French citizens, were convicted in 2007 of "criminal association with a terrorist enterprise."
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.

McClatchy interview

On June 15, 2008 the McClatchy News Service published articles based on interviews with 66 former Guantanamo captives. McClatchy reporters interviewed Brahim Yadel in France.
According to his McClatchy interviewer
Brahim Yadel was disgusted by al Qaeda's attacks on September 11, 2001, and tried to flee Afghanistan immediately after he heard of them, and never engaged in hostilities against US forces.
However he acknowledged receiving military training in Afghanistan, and: "...even took advanced al Qaida courses in electronics that would have led to bomb making."

"I always differentiated between war to defend Islam and terrorism. I went to Afghanistan to defend Islam, for jihad. Had this been a military engagement, I would have stood and fought. Of course, it was not, and I wanted nothing to do with it." "I simply told the truth, that I wished to be a soldier to fight soldiers, that I had no intention of fighting civilians. I always told the entire truth. I think they respected that."

He told his McClatchy interviewer that he saw the USS Cole as a legitimate military target, but felt his non-western companions in Afghanistan had no idea how appalling the attack on the World Trade Center

World Trade Center

The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...

was:

"I knew bin Laden was against the Americans," he said. "In the logic of war, attacking a warship made sense. It wasn't my battle, but I could understand it. Unlike the Afghans, I'd grown up in Western culture, which means American culture. They didn't understand the enormity of what had happened. I did. It was horrible. I didn't believe in this war."

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