Ex-Guantanamo Prisoner Walks Free of Spanish Jail

Reuters ^ | 7/13/04 | Andrea Comas and Emma Ross-Thomas

[TexKat]

ALCALA DE HENARES, Spain (Reuters) - A Spaniard held for two years in the U.S. military camp at Guantanamo Bay before being handed over to Spain walked out of prison on bail on Tuesday, judicial sources said.

Hamed Aderrahman Ahmad was the first detainee to be transferred from the prison camp where the United States is holding about 600 people, captured since U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks.

Judicial sources said investigating magistrate Baltasar Garzon had ordered Abderrahman released on bail of 3,000 euros ($3,707). He has to report daily to a police station and weekly to court and is forbidden from leaving the country.

Abderrahman embraced those waiting for him outside the Alcala de Henares jail, near Madrid, and thanked the judge whose investigation into al Qaeda's Spanish activities had brought him back to Spain.

Garzon had charged him with belonging to al Qaeda and once the United States handed him over to Spain in February, he ordered him jailed pending trial.

"I am innocent. I am not a terrorist," Abderrahman told reporters outside the jail. "I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, that's all."

Abderrahman, from Spain's African enclave of Ceuta, was arrested by the Pakistani army in November 2001.

In his first court appearance he said he had wanted to join the Taliban movement in Afghanistan but denied the charge of belonging to al Qaeda, court sources said then.

Lawyer Marcos Garcia Montes said the release was provisional but he expected his client to be cleared of all charges shortly.

"The judge will certainly decide in a few days that there are no charges to answer," Garcia Montes told Reuters.

Spain has also asked for three more detainees to be sent to Spain for its investigations.

The Guantanamo detentions have brought criticism from human rights groups as none of the prisoners have been tried and the United States calls detainees enemy combatants rather than prisoners of war, denying them rights set out in the Geneva Conventions.

On Monday, the United States told Guantanamo prisoners they had the right to go to court to challenge their detention and ask for a hearing on their "enemy combatant" status.

[TexKat]

Spaniard Hamed Abderrahman Ahmed, left, leaves Madrid prison accompanied by his lawyer Javier Nart, right, and his sister, Naseha, 2nd right, in Alcala de Meco, just outside Madrid, Tuesday July 13, 2004. Ahmed was freed from Guantanamo prison last February but jailed pending investigation on arrival in Spain.Other person is unidentified. (AP Photo/Denis Doyle)

Former Guantanamo prisoner Hamed Abderrahman Ahmad of Spain smiles as he gets into a car after being released on bail from Meco prison near Madrid July 13, 2004. Ahmad, who was held for two years in the U.S. military camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba before being handed over to Spain, will be released from prison on bail on Tuesday, judicial sources said. REUTERS/Andrea Comas

[sgtbono2002]

We need to keep an eye on this boy, i would bet we will hear from him again.

[NonValueAdded]

I hope that GPS locator we implanted in him before sending him back to Spain still ... whoops, I guess I let the cat out of the bag. Hey Al-Q, it is undetectable by electronic means and it is hidden somewhere in his left leg ... or was it the right leg? or maybe his arm? Better cut them all off to be sure.

[TexasGreg]

"I am innocent. I am not a terrorist," Abderrahman told reporters outside the jail. "I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, that's all."

Yeah ... right ... and we're just supposed to ignore the fact that you were caught on the battlefield, in a fire-fight between US forces and Al-Qaeda terrorists, carrying a gun and with explosive making equipment in your back-pack. Yeah, right ... you're not a terrorist!

[oceanview]

the judiciary - in all countries including our own - cannot be effective in fighting the war on terrorism. its a hopeless case, we either use the military and give more power to the executive branch - or we lose.

[Gritty]

"I am innocent. I am not a terrorist," Abderrahman told reporters outside the jail. "I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, that's all."

Yeah, right.

I guess the "wrong place" was in the mountains of Afghanistan fighting with the Taliban and the "wrong time" was when US troops were fighting against them.

Innocent. No doubt about it.

[SGTARKyTEK]

i hope he blows something up in spain, perferable the judge's house