The United States Department of Defense

United States Department of Defense

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

 acknowledges holding seven French detainees in Guantanamo.
A total of 778 detainees have been held in extrajudicial detention

Extrajudicial detention

Arbitrary or extrajudicial detention is the detention of individuals by a state, without ever laying formal charges against them.Although it has a long history of legitimate use in wartime , detention without charge, sometimes in secret, has been one of the hallmarks of totalitarian states...

 in the Guantanamo Bay detention camps, 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...

 since the camps opened on January 11, 2002
The camp population peaked in 2004 at approximately 660. Only nineteen new detainees, all "high value detainees" have been transferred there since the United States Supreme Court's ruling in Rasul v. Bush

Rasul v. Bush

Rasul v. Bush, 542 U.S. 466 , is a landmark United States Supreme Court decision establishing that the U.S. court system has the authority to decide whether foreign nationals held in Guantanamo Bay were wrongfully imprisoned...

.

The last French citizens were repatriated in March 2005.
Six of the men faced charges in France upon repatriation.
Five of the men were convicted.
Their convictions were overturned, on appeal, 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.

French detainees in Guantanamo

French detainees in Guantanamo

isn	name	notes
161	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....	Published a book on his experience. Claims he was misled into traveling to Afghanistan by his older brother Menad Benchellali Menad Benchellali Menad Benchellali is a suspected terrorist arrested in France on January 6, 2004.Benchellali is alleged to have been an al Qaeda chemical weapons specialist.Benchellali is alleged to have attended the derunta training camp in Afghanistan.... . Acknowledges spending two months in a military training camp in Afghanistan, just prior al Qaeda's attacks on September 11, 2001. Claims he tried to leave Afghanistan; claims he never engaged in hostilities. Convicted of terrorism related offenses, and received a four year sentence. Conviction overturned on appeal on February 24, 2009.
164	Imad Achab Kanouni
173	Ridouane Khalid Ridouane Khalid Ridouane Khalid is a French citizen who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.The Department of Defense says his birthdate is August 16, 1967....	Convicted of terrorism related offenses in a French court upon his repatriation. Conviction overturned on appeal on February 24, 2009.
236	Khaled ben Mustafa Khaled Ben Mustafa Khaled Ben Mustafa is a citizen of France who was formerly held in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.The Department of Defense reports that Mustafa was born on January 9, 1972, in Lyon, France....	Convicted of terrorism related offenses in a French court upon his repatriation. Conviction overturned on appeal on February 24, 2009.
325	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....	Also alleged to have been tricked into traveling to Afghanistan by Menad Benchellali. Published a book about his experiences. Convicted of terrorism related offenses in a French court upon his repatriation. Conviction overturned on appeal on February 24, 2009.
371	Brahim Yadel Brahim Yadel Brahim Yadel is a citizen of France held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 371,...	Convicted of terrorism related offenses in a French court upon his repatriation. Conviction overturned on appeal on February 24, 2009.
649	Mustaq Ali Patel Mustaq Ali Patel Patel told his Tribunal he was beaten by his initial captors to force him to falsely claim to be a Saudi. He claimed he had been beaten so badly that his memory and cognitive abilities had never recovered.-Determined not to have been an Enemy Combatant:...	Allegedly provided a false identity to his interrogators. Allegedly initially identified himself as a Saudi. Denied all the allegations against him. Reported being tortured, to force him to falsely confess to being a Saudi. Saudi security officials visiting Guantanamo confirmed he was not a Saudi. His CSR Tribunal determined he had never been an "enemy combatant Enemy combatant Enemy combatant is a term historically referring to members of the armed forces of the state with which another state is at war. Prior to 2008, the definition was: "Any person in an armed conflict who could be properly detained under the laws and customs of war." In the case of a civil war or an... " after all.