Lazhar Ben Mohamed Tlil

Lazhar Ben Mohamed Tlil is a citizen of Tunis, and longtime resident of Italy, who is believed to have associations with other North Africans who first lived in Italy, and made their way to Afghanistan, and eventually were apprehended and sent to the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.^[1] According to the Associated Press Lazhar was going to serve as a witness in the trials of Guantanamo captives, but recently indicated that he might no longer cooperate, because he is unhappy with how Italy's version of witness protection is administered.

According to the Associated Press some North Africans currently in Guantanamo, who were known to Lazhar from their time in Italy, were being considered for transfer to Italy, where they would have faced charges based on his testimony.^[1] The Associated Press reported he was also being considered as a possible witness against some of the senior al Qaeda captives who would face trial in the USA.

Lazhar underwent training at one or more Afghan training camps, and his testimony could have been based, in part, on his presence there.^[1]

References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Victor L. Simpson, Colleen Barry (2009-11-14). "Witness in Italy may hold key to Guantanamo trials". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2009-11-16.