Mohamedou Ould Slahi

Mohamedou Ould Slahi (Arabic: محمد ولد صلاحي, transliterated Muhammad walad Salahi, also used the alias أبو مصعب, transliterated Abu Musab) (c.1972 - present) is a Mauritanian national formerly suspected of involvement in one of the 2000 millennium attack plots. Slahi was born in Mauritania, but moved to Germany in the late 1980s. He was well-known to investigators as an al-Qaida operative. In late 1999, Slahi was operating under the pseudonym "Abu Musab", unbeknownst to German or American intelligence.

He is in US detention.

Germany

Separately, members of the terrorist Hamburg cell were planning to go to Chechnya to defend Muslims against Russian forces. They met a stranger on a train named Khalid al-Masri, who advised them to talk to a man named Abu Musab (actually Slahi) in Duisburg Germany. Slahi advised them that it was difficult to get to Chechnya, and many Muslims were being turned away by the authorities. He therefore advised them to train in Afghanistan, and he gave them useful information in how to get there. In Afghanistan, these same travellers would become the core organizers of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Canada

Afterwards, Slahi moved to Montreal, Canada and was granted permanent resident status despite security officials' concerns. He lived in a mosque as an imam. After the 2000 millennium attack plots failed, investigators began to suspect Slahi's involvement. The would-be suicide-attacker Ahmed Ressam had lived in the same mosque. Slahi moved suddenly to Mauritania, leading investigators to conclude he was fleeing; Slahi claims he went to visit his sick mother.

According to his testimony before his Combatant Status Review Tribunal Slahi lived in Canada from November 26 1999 to January 20 2000. He stayed with his friend, Hasni Mohsed, not in a mosque. He met some of Mohsen's friends, including Raoul Hanashi, who was recruited to Jihad and met Abu Zubaydah.

Mauritania 2000-2001

In Mauritania, Slahi repeatedly turned himself in to authorities when asked to do so, but was twice released. Finally he was arrested and turned over to American forces, who rendered him to Jordan, where he remained for eight months. A report published by Amnesty International on September 18, 2006, describes his rendition and treatment there. http://web.amnesty.org/library/pdf/AMR511492006ENGLISH/$File/AMR5114906.pdf Later he was moved to Bagram Air Force Base, and from there he was placed in Camp X-ray in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He received some notice later when he went on a hunger strike to protest the fact that a severe rash he had developed was not being treated. He finally received medical treatment after he became ill from exhaustion. On December 14, 2005 it was confirmed that officials of the German foreign and domestic intelligence agencies (Bundesnachrichtendienst and Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz) had participated in the interrogation of Slahi at least once during a stay at the Guantanamo Bay camps between September 21 and September 27, 2002.

Guantanamo

Memos from meetings held on October 9 2003 and February 2 2004 summarizing meetings between General Geoffrey Miller and his staff and Vincent Cassard of the ICRC, acknowledged that camp authorities were not permitting the ICRC to have access to Slahi, due to "military necessity".

As of April 20 2006 Slahi remains in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba. Slahi's detainee ID number is 760.

Combatant Status Review Tribunal

The transcript from Slahi's Combatant Status Review Tribunal was released, on March 3 2006, in response to a court order from US District Court Justice Jed Rakoff, together with 300 other transcripts. The transcripts were released without identifying whose transcripts they were. On April 20 2006 the Department of Defense released a list of the names and ID numbers of all the detainees who had gone through a CSRT, enabling Slahi's transcript to be found.

The Los Angeles Times wrote: "But the documents also show that the puzzle of a man U.S. terrorism experts believe was involved in the Sept. 11 attacks and the millennium plot to bomb Los Angeles International Airport seems only to grow deeper.

The Times reports that Slahi has requested permission to live in the USA in a witness protection program. The Times says that Slahi continues to assert his innocence, that he acknowledges traveling to Afghanistan for Jihad, but it was during the Soviet occupation, and that he had cut his ties Al Qaeda a decade ago.

The Times reports:

"A detailed summary, obtained by The Times, of Slahi's interrogations by U.S. officials suggests that he played a more central role and that he lied about it during his many debriefings over the last four years."

allegations

The allegations against Slahi were:

a The detainee is associated with Al Qaida and the Taliban.

1. The detainee admitted that he traveled to Afghanistan to wage Jihad.
2. The detainee stated that his goal was to become a martyr by dying for Islam.
3. The detainee trained at the al Farouq camp in Afghanistan where he took the alias of Abu Masab.
4. The detainee received training on the Kalashnikov, Simonov, UZI, M-16, Makarov pistol and rocket propelled grenades while at the al Farouq camp.

testimony

Slahi admitted he had traveled to Afghanistan to wage Jihad, and that he had trained at the al Farouq training camp. But that was during the Soviet occupation. He was present, in Afghanistan, when Kabul fell, and the Soviets withdrew. Slahi described how civil war between the different factions which had joined to fight the Soviets broke out. So he cut his ties and left. He had joined jihad to fight non-Muslim invaders who were oppressing Muslims.

He was asked if he would consider the American occupiers of Afghanistan non-Muslim invaders who were oppressing Muslims. He replied that he did not, because Muslims in America were free to practice their religion.

Administrative Review Board hearing

Detainees who were determined to have been properly classified as "enemy combatants" were scheduled to have their dossier reviewed at annual Administrative Review Board hearings. The Administrative Review Boards weren't authorized to review whether a detainee qualified for POW status, and they weren't authorized to review whether a detainee should have been classified as an "enemy combatant".

They were authorized to consider whether a detainee should continue to be detained by the United States, because they continued to pose a threat -- or whether they could safely be repatriated to the custody of their home country, or whether they could be set free.

Slahi chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing.

See also

• Omar Khadr -- Canadian citizen, also detained in Guantanamo
• Abdurahman Khadr -- Canadian citizen formerly detained in Guantanamo
• Ahcène Zemiri -- Former resident of Canada, also detained in Guantanamo
• Djamel Ameziane -- Former resident of Canada, also detained in Guantanamo

External links

• Montrealer sold to U.S. troops Montreal Gazette reprint of Ottawa Citizen article about the other former Canadian resident, being held in Guantanamo Bay, that mentions Slahi, July 11, 2005 -mirror
• Verhör in Guantánamo, n-tv, December 15, 2005