Hamed Abderrahman Ahmad (born 1974) is a Spaniard who was captured in Pakistan in 2001. He was detained in Guantanamo Bay, then extradited to Spain on February 14, 2004. Spanish authorities alleged that Abderrahman Ahmad is a member of a Spanish al-Qaeda cell. Ahmed was convicted of those charges in 2005 and sentenced to six years in prison.
Ahmad is popularly known as "the Spanish Taliban".[1]
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Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon, prepared the indictment against Ahmad. Prosecutors alleged that Mr. Ahmed had gone to Afghanistan to train with Osama bin Laden's followers. Following his trial, Ahmed was convicted. On October 5, 2005, Ahmed was sentenced to six years in prison.
Three other detainees indicted with Ahmad were Moroccan Lahcen Ikassrien, and two British residents, Omar Deghayes and Jamil al Banna. Spanish authorities alleged that these four may have had some involvement, not only with the September 11, 2001 attacks, but also with planning the later Madrid bombings.
The Washington Post reported on July 24, 2006 that Ahmad's conviction was overturned, on appeal, by the Spanish Supreme Court.[2] According to the Washington Post article, the Spanish High Court that had originally convicted Ahmad, had not taken into account his right to the presumption of innocence. In November 2006, the US Embassy in Madrid sent a cable, released on WikiLeaks 2010-11-30, detailing the Supreme Court findings to Washington. The Supreme Court found that any confessions or evidence obtained outside of Spain could not be included in the case and in the absence of any other compelling evidence there was no case, to quote "interrogations, euphemistically called "interviews," took place under unequal circumstances because (the defendant) was in detention" at the time of the interrogations.. Several comments are also made regarding his mistreatment while in US custody, which appear to the writer to have affected the Supreme Court appeal decision.
The Washington Post quoted from the Spanish Supreme Court's decision:[2]
Baltasar Garzón, the Spanish magistrate who requested Ahmad's extradition, speaking at a legal conference in late May 2006, said of the Guantanamo detainment camps:[3]
Garzón, speaking of the evidence against Ahmad supplied to him by American intelligence officials, said:[3]
Eleven terrorist suspects were arrested in Ceuta, the Spanish enclave on the North African coast, early on the morning of December 12, 2006.[1] Two of arrested suspects are said to be brothers of Ahmad. Initial reports incorrectly said that Ahmad himself was one of the arrested men.
Press reports claim the arrested men were associated with the Moroccan Islamic Combat Group.[1]
The arrested men were believed to have sent recruits to fight in Iraq.[1]
On April 29, 2009, that Spanish investigating magistrate Baltazar Garzon initiated a formal investigation into whether confessions from Ahmed and three other former Guantanamo captives were the result of the use of abusive interrogation techniques.[4][5][6] Ahmed and the other three men: Lahcen Ikassrien, Jamiel Abdul Latif al Banna and Omar Deghayes, had previously faced charges in Spanish courts, based on confessions they made while in US custody. Their charges had been dropped based on their claims that their confessions were false and were the result of abusive interrogation techniques.
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