Adel Ben Mabrouk

Adel Ben Mabrouk
Born (1970-09-15)September 15, 1970
Tunis, Tunisia
Detained at Guantanamo
Alternate name
  • Adil Mabrouk Boughanmi Bin Hamida,
  • Adel Ben Mabrouk Bin Hamida Boughanmi,
  • Adil Mabrouk Bin Hamida
ISN 148
Charge(s) No charge
Status Transferred to Italy

Adel Ben Mabrouk is a citizen of Tunisia who was held in extrajudicial detention at the United States' Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba, from March 2002 to November 2009.[1][2][3] Mabrouk had outstanding warrants in Italy, and shortly after his arrival in November 2009, Italian prosecutors laid charges against him.

Although Mabrouk was convicted by a Milan court in February 2011, of criminal association with terrorist intent, the judge set him free, after sentencing him to time served, and denouncing detention in Guantanamo as "inhumane" and "not democratic".[4]

Official status reviews

Originally the Bush Presidency asserted that captives apprehended in the "war on terror" were not covered by the Geneva Conventions, and could be held indefinitely, without charge, and without an open and transparent review of the justifications for their detention.[5] In 2004 the United States Supreme Court ruled, in Rasul v. Bush, that Guantanamo captives were entitled to being informed of the allegations justifying their detention, and were entitled to try to refute them.

Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants

Combatant Status Review Tribunals were held in a 3x5 meter trailer where the captive sat with his hands and feet shackled to a bolt in the floor.[6][7]

Following the Supreme Court's ruling the Department of Defense set up the Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants.[5][8]

Scholars at the Brookings Institute, lead by Benjamin Wittes, listed the captives still held in Guantanamo in December 2008, according to whether their detention was justified by certain common allegations:[9]

Mabrouk attended his Combatant Status Review Tribunal, where he disputed

Mabrouk attended his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.

Habeas Petition

Mabrouk filed a habeas corpus petition which was ruled moot by the US District Court in July 2008[10] .

Transfer from Guantanamo

On November 30, 2009, Bin Hamida and fellow detainee, Riyad Bil Mohammed Tahir Nasseri, were transferred from Guantanamo into the custody of representatives of Italy. Both men face outstanding warrants in that country,[11][12][13][14] including new terrorism charges.[15]

Trial in Italy

Shortly after his arrival in Italy it emerged that his conviction would depend almost totally on the testimony of another Tunisian man, living in Italy, a criminal named Lazhar Ben Mohamed Tlil.[16][17][18][19][20][21] Italian prosecutor Elio Ramondini said it would be "impossible" to convict him without Tlil's testimony.[20] Tlil threatened to withhold his testimony. Italy had placed him in its witness protection program, but Tlil felt the terms of the program weren't generous enough.

Mabrouk was convicted in February 2011.[4] Armando Spataro set him free after sentencing him to time served. After his release he was deported to Tunisia. Domenico Quirico, an Italian journalist who interviewed him, said that the notorious Zaharouni neighborhood of Tunis where he settled was "too dangerous to frequent at night."

Interview published in Time magazine

Time magazine published a translation of an interview first published in Italian in the Italian newspaper La Stampa.[4] Domenico Quirico's interview with Mabrouk took place on May 2, 2011—shortly after US Navy SEALs had killed Osama bin Laden, and Quirico asked him for his assessment of bin Laden. Mabrouk called bin Laden an "man of honor", and asserted "even his enemies should recognize that he deserved respect."

During his interview he disputed the theory that he had been radicalized by devout muslims while in Italian custody, prior to traveling to Afghanistan.[4] He acknowledged that devout muslims he met in jail helped him renew his own faith. He said his new faith had helped him quit using drugs. He said that, after his release, he gave up drug-dealing, and started working as a barber, and then as a delivery driver. He said that he applied for a legitimate visa, so he could continue living and working in Italy legally.

Mabrouk said that the main reason he traveled to Afghanistan was that he feared if he continued trying to live in Italy he would be deported back to Tunis, where he would face further incarceration in brutal Tunisian prisons.[4]

References

  1. ↑ OARDEC. "List of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002 through May 15, 2006" (PDF). United States Department of Defense. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2006-05-15. Works related to List of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002 through May 15, 2006 at Wikisource
  2. ↑ "Measurements of Heights and Weights of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (ordered and consolidated version)" (PDF). Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas, from DoD data. Retrieved 2009-12-21. mirror
  3. ↑ Margot Williams (2008-11-03). "Guantanamo Docket: Adel Ben Mabrouk". New York Times. Retrieved 2010-10. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Domenico Quirico (2011-05-09). "A Former Gitmo Inmate Remembers bin Laden". Time Magazine. Retrieved 2015-09-27. Last February, a Milan judge convicted this 40-year-old Tunisian of criminal association with terrorist intent but then freed him from jail, calling the time he'd spent incarcerated at Guantanamo "not democratic" and the conditions "inhumane." Mabrouk is a survivor of Afghanistan, where he was arrested at the end of 2001 for his alleged associations with al-Qaeda.
  5. 1 2 "U.S. military reviews 'enemy combatant' use". USA Today. 2007-10-11. Archived from the original on 2012-08-11. Critics called it an overdue acknowledgment that the so-called Combatant Status Review Tribunals are unfairly geared toward labeling detainees the enemy, even when they pose little danger. Simply redoing the tribunals won't fix the problem, they said, because the system still allows coerced evidence and denies detainees legal representation.
  6. ↑ Guantánamo Prisoners Getting Their Day, but Hardly in Court, New York Times, November 11, 2004 - mirror
  7. ↑ Inside the Guantánamo Bay hearings: Barbarian "Justice" dispensed by KGB-style "military tribunals", Financial Times, December 11, 2004
  8. ↑ "Q&A: What next for Guantanamo prisoners?". BBC News. 2002-01-21. Archived from the original on 23 November 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-24. mirror
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Benjamin Wittes, Zaathira Wyne (2008-12-16). "The Current Detainee Population of Guantánamo: An Empirical Study" (PDF). The Brookings Institute. Retrieved 2010-02-16. mirror
  10. ↑ "Guantanamo Bay Detainee Litigation: Doc 212 -- Orders that all petitioners other than the following are DISMISSED without prejudice from Civil Action Number 05-2386" (PDF). United States Department of Justice. 2008-07-29. Retrieved 2008-08-13.
  11. ↑ "Algerian transferred from Guantanamo to France: lawyer". Agence France-Presse. 2009-11-30. Archived from the original on 2009-12-02.
  12. ↑ "US transfers Guantanamo inmates". Agence France-Presse. 2009-11-30. Archived from the original on 2009-12-02.
  13. ↑ "Italy: 2 Guantánamo Detainees Arrive for Trial on Terror Charges". New York Times. 2009-11-30. Archived from the original on 5 December 2009. Retrieved 2009-12-02.
  14. ↑ Peter Finn, Julie Tate (2009-12-01). "4 from Guantanamo are sent to Europe". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2009-12-02.
  15. ↑ Thomas Joscelyn (2009-12-23). "The Real Gitmo". Yahoo News. Archived from the original on 2009-12-23.
  16. ↑ "Tunisian May Hold Key to Guantanamo Trials". CBS News. 2009-11-13. Retrieved 2015-09-27. Tlil's Italian court-appointed lawyer says he has already provided important details to a team of U.S. investigators and identified from photos fellow Tunisian trainees in the Afghan camps. While the cases are confidential, authorities say he also has provided important information to the Italians about several detainees at Guantanamo who might be brought to Italy and tried in a criminal court.
  17. ↑ 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.
  18. ↑ Victor L. Simpson (2009-12-01). "Italy may accept more Gitmo detainees". Seattle Times. Retrieved 2015-01. Lazhar Ben Mohamed Tlil, a key prosecution witness, said Nasri, known by his alias Abou Doujana, was head of an organization of Tunisians at a camp in Afghanistan where recruits received both ideological and military training. It was at this camp, the witness said, that he and other recruits were taught that “to kill infidels was the duty of every Muslim” and were prepared to carry out suicide attacks. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  19. ↑ Victor L. Simpson (2012-10-14). "Italy's secret anti-mob weapon: witness protection". San Diego Union Tribune. Retrieved 2015-01. Lazhar Ben Mohamed Tlil, a Tunisian who became an Islamic militant and was trained in Afghanistan to kill Americans, who entered the witness protection program after providing information to Italian investigators about several detainees at Guantanamo, his court-appointed lawyer, Davide Boschi, told The Associated Press. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  20. 1 2 "Testigo en Italia sería clave para juicios de Guantánamo" [Witness in Italy would be key to Guantanamo trials] (in Spanish). El Mexicano. 2009-11-13. Retrieved 2015-01. "Si me preguntan sobre su importancia como testigo, les diría que es importante para mí", dijo el fiscal Elio Ramondini recientemente a la Associated Press en una entrevista en su despacho en el palacio de justicia de Milán. Sin Tlil, el juicio a los sospechosos de Guantánamo en Italia "no es difícil, sino imposible", aseguró. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  21. ↑ Victor L. Simpson (2009-12-01). "Italy's Gitmo detainees linked to al-Qaida base". Contra Costa Times. Retrieved 2015-01. Lazhar Ben Mohamed Tlil, a key prosecution witness, said Nasri, known by his alias Abou Doujana, was head of an organization of Tunisians at a camp in Afghanistan where recruits received both ideological and military training. It was at this camp, the witness said, that he and other recruits were taught that "to kill infidels was the duty of every Muslim" and were prepared to carry out suicide attacks. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)

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