SARAJEVO, Oct 18 (Hina) - Bosnia-Herzegovina on Friday requested US mediation in contacting four Algerians suspected of ties with Islamic terrorism and al-Qaida whom Bosnia extradited to the US and who are imprisoned at the Guantanamo
military base in Cuba.
SARAJEVO, Oct 18 (Hina) - Bosnia-Herzegovina on Friday requested US
mediation in contacting four Algerians suspected of ties with
Islamic terrorism and al-Qaida whom Bosnia extradited to the US and
who are imprisoned at the Guantanamo military base in Cuba. #L#
US Ambassador Clifford Bond was informed of the commitments state
authorities have towards the Algerians, in line with a decision by
the Bosnian House for Human Rights, which this week assessed that
their extradition had been unlawful, the Bosnian Foreign Ministry
said in a statement.
The House for Human Rights (the highest Bosnian judicial body for
human rights issues) evaluated that the four former Bosnian
citizens were entitled to damages of EUR5,000 each. The government
was entrusted with providing them with consular protection and US
government guarantees that they would not be sentenced to death.
Bond said he understood Bosnia's position and that he would notify
the authorities in Washington of the possibilities of cooperation
necessary to carry out the House for Human Rights ruling.
The four Algerians were arrested in Bosnia in October 2001 on
suspicion that they were preparing an attack on the US and British
embassies in Sarajevo.
No indictment was filed against them, but on January 17, at the
request of the US government, they were extradited after being
stripped of Bosnian citizenship.
They have been imprisoned at Guantanamo ever since.
(hina) ha