Bosnia Hands Terror Suspects Over to U.S. Custody (US forces Bosnia to hand over Suspects-See Pics)

SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Bosnian authorities have handed over to U.S. custody six Algerians detained in October on suspicion of involvement in terrorism but ordered released this week by a local court, the U.S. embassy said on Friday.

In Washington, a senior official told Reuters the U.S. military planned to quickly move the six to the American Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where al Qaeda and Taliban detainees from the war in Afghanistan are being held .

``The plan is to move them to Guantanamo Bay,'' the U.S. official said, without specifying when.

Earlier, the U.S. embassy in Sarajevo said in a statement: ''The six Algerian nationals who have been detained by BiH (Bosnia and Herzegovina) authorities since mid-October have been transferred to U.S. custody.

``We have taken custody of these individuals due to our concern about their activity in BiH, which both posed a credible security threat to U.S. personnel and facilities and demonstrated involvement in international terrorism,'' it said.

Washington insisted it would not have acted without credible evidence, but the transfer exposed it to more criticism from campaigners who have accused it of disregarding human rights in its declared ``war on terror.''

The six have been accused of having links to the al Qaeda network of fugitive Osama bin Laden.

A Bosnian government official said legal procedures had been respected in the case, but a senior U.N. human rights officer in Bosnia said they had been ``trampled over.''

Not only had a court ordered their release on Thursday but the state's top human rights body had instructed authorities to prevent four being taken out of the country by force.

``It's very disappointing,'' Madeleine Rees, head of the Bosnia office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said of the operation. ``It violates the rule of law.''

Washington is already under fire from human rights groups for its treatment of prisoners captured in Afghanistan and held at Guantanamo Bay.

The United States has not given the captives the status of prisoners of war, which would grant them certain rights under the 1949 Geneva Convention.

The Supreme Court of Bosnia's Muslim-Croat federation ruled on Thursday there was no reason to detain the six. All were Algerians, although one also had a Yemeni passport possibly obtained fraudulently, international officials said.

Local police arrested them in October, acting on a U.S. tip after threats closed the U.S. and British embassies for several days. International officials said U.S. officials had not been willing to provide Bosnia's justice system with the intelligence information that prompted their detention.

Five of the six also held Bosnian citizenship but were stripped of it after their arrest. The men had appealed against that decision, however, and Rees said they should not have been deported until that process was complete.

A Bosnian government official insisted the appeal had already been rejected and legal procedures had been followed.

He said the government had not been aware of the ruling by Bosnia's Human Rights Chamber that measures should be taken to stop four of the suspects being taken out of the country.

``The legal procedure in this case has been fully respected so far,'' said Jusif Halilagic, a deputy minister who represents the government in the chamber.

More than 100 protesters gathered outside Sarajevo's central prison on Thursday night. They tried to block vehicles presumably taking the suspects to hand them over to U.S. forces.

The U.S. embassy said the suspects would be treated humanely and in accordance with international law.

[Commander of the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Bosnia Lt. Gen. John B.] Sylvester added: "A Bosnian official told me . . . 'I recognize we are probably an aircraft carrier here for groups which may be using this country as a point from which to advance into Europe and elsewhere in the world."

Bosnian riot police apprehend a Bosnian Muslim demonstrator during a protest in front of Sarajevo's central prison early Friday Jan. 18, 2002. The protest took place after Bosnia's highest court ordered the release late Thursday of six Algerians suspected of having terrorist links. U.S. officials were expected to take the men, who were rounded-up after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, into custody. (AP Photo/HIDAJET DELIC)

A group of Bosnian Muslim women block the street near Sarajevo's central prison during a protest early Friday Jan. 18, 2002. The protest took place after Bosnia's highest court ordered the release late Thursday of six Algerians suspected of having terrorist links. U.S. officials were expected to take the men, who were rounded-up after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, into custody. (AP Photo/SAVA RADOVANOVIC)

A group of Bosnian Muslims lay on a ground in front of Bosnian riot police during a protest in front of Sarajevo's central prison early Friday Jan. 18, 2002. The protest took place after Bosnia's highest court ordered the release late Thursday of six Algerians suspected of having terrorist links. U.S. officials were expected to take the men, who were rounded-up after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, into custody. (AP Photo/SAVA RADOVANOVIC)

Bosnian riot policemen guard a car allegedly containing some of the six Algerians, during a protest early Friday Jan. 18, 2002. The protest took place after Bosnia's highest court ordered the release late Thursday of six Algerians suspected of having terrorist links. U.S. officials were expected to take the men, who were rounded-up after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, into custody. (AP Photo/SAVA RADOVANOVIC

An unidentified Bosnian Muslim woman attempts to stop a car allegedly containing two of six Algerians, during a protest in front of Sarajevo's central prison early Friday Jan. 18, 2002. The protest took place after Bosnia's highest court ordered the release late Thursday of six Algerians suspected of having terrorist links. U.S. officials were expected to take the men, who were rounded-up after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, into custody. (AP Photo/SAVA RADOVANOVIC)

An unidentified Bosnian Muslim clashes with police during a protest in front of Sarajevo's central prison early Friday Jan. 18, 2002. The protest took place after Bosnia's highest court ordered the release late Thursday of six Algerians suspected of having terrorist links. U.S. officials were expected to take the men, who were rounded-up after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, into custody. (AP Photo/SAVA RADOVANOVIC

Bosnian policemen in riot gear push protestors away of the entrance of central prison in Sarajevo, January 18, 2002. The United States has vowed its troops will take control of six Arabs who had been detained in Bosnia on suspicion of involment in terrorism but whose release was ordered by a court on Thursday. More than 100 protestors, angry at the U.S. decision to detain men in spite of the court ruling, gathered outside Sarajevo's central prison in snow and freezing temperatures. REUTERS/Danilo Krstanovic

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From: U.S. Troops Seize 6 Terror Suspects Freed by Bosnia

In an interview Thursday at the U.S. military's European headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, Sylvester said, "We believe that there was in fact an ongoing operation being planned against the United States Embassy." The six were part of an Islamic group with direct links to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, according to Sylvester.

He said the men had been casing the embassy and one had married the daughter of the embassy's Bosnian locksmith as part of an elaborate scheme to attack the facility. The planning for the attack apparently pre-dated the Sept. 11 strikes in the United States.

U.S. officials said one of the men, Bensayah Belkacem, 41, who used the alias Mejd, had regular contact with senior military aides to Osama bin Laden and logged dozens of phone calls to Afghanistan after Sept. 11 and before his arrest. The plan to attack the embassy apparently took on new urgency after the Sept. 11 attacks, officials said.

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