12/07/2005
wife: Northern Alliance got $5,000, she says; U.S. alleges Algerian-born Ahcene Zemiri helped millennium bomber Ahmed Ressam
JAMES GORDON
CanWest News Service
A former Montreal resident detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was sold to the United States by bounty hunters for $5,000, his Canadian wife claims. In a sworn U.S. court affidavit obtained by the Ottawa Citizen, Karina Dereshteanu said Canadian officials told her about the deal well after her spouse, Algerian-born Ahcene Zemiri, was handed over to U.S. troops in Afghanistan in late 2001. "I do not know what these bounty hunters may have told the Americans, but it cannot be true," Dereshteanu said. "I can attest to the best of my knowledge that my husband was not a member of the Taliban, Al- Qa'ida or any other type of terrorist or radical group." Zemiri, 38, arrived in Canada in 1994 on a fake French passport and, two years later, made a refugee claim in Montreal. Although it was rejected on national security grounds, he was never deported and married Dereshteanu in 1996. The pair moved to Afghanistan in July 2001, months before U.S. forces invaded in retaliation for the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Dereshteanu, who became pregnant with couple's only son, was able to flee in November 2001. Zemiri stayed behind. The next time she heard from her husband, it was in a letter mailed from Guantanamo. One of Zemiri's U.S. lawyers said the Algerian was picked up by Afghan Northern Alliance members in the mountainous Tora Bora area, after suffering a broken arm and shrapnel wound caused by a U.S. bomb. In an interview, Minneapolis attorney Jim Dorsey said he didn't know if any money was paid in the handover to U.S. troops. He maintained his client wasn't involved in combat at the time, however, and the Dereshteanu affidavit said Zemiri was simply trying to find a way out of the country after hearing a rumour Arab men were being killed at the border. The U.S. military presents a much more sinister picture, in the tribunal decision that upheld Zemiri's status as an "enemy combatant," and consequently extended his stay in Cuba. The document, obtained by the Citizen, confirms that Zemiri remains jailed due in part to his link to Ahmed Ressam, a Montrealer thwarted en route to a planned terrorist attack at the Los Angeles International Airport in 1999. Caught as he crossed the B.C.-Washington border in a car packed with explosives, Ressam was convicted on terrorism charges in 2001. In court documents unveiled last year, Ressam said Zemiri was a close friend whom he asked for help while planning the foiled millennium strike. Ressam testified in 2001 Zemiri gave him $3,500 and a video camera to use as "camouflage," and did so knowing it was to be used for a "job" in the United States. Zemiri declined to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal hearing, and didn't present evidence or witnesses. Zemiri's wife said she believes he was tortured in U.S. custody, but his lawyer said he appeared well during a visit to Cuba just weeks ago. Dorsey said he's more concerned about his client being held almost incommunicado for three years without charge. Zemiri is one of two ex-Canadian residents held at Guantanamo. Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a Mauritanian who once lived at a Montreal mosque, was accused of links to two Sept. 11 hijackers.
Omar Khadr, the son of late Al-Qa'ida financier Ahmed Said Khadr, was sent to the camp as a 15-year-old following a firefight with U.S. troops in Afghanistan in 2002. He is the only known Canadian citizen being held. Why Zemiri is held at Guantanamo Former Montreal resident Ahcene Zemiri has been held as an "enemy combatant" at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 2001. U.S. court documents reveal their allegations against him, none of which have been proven in court: - Zemiri travelled to Afghanistan with a stolen passport. - That passport was in the possession of an Al-Qa'ida facilitator. - The detainee travelled to Canada on a false French passport. - He carried a weapon in Afghanistan. - The detainee was an active member of a network supporting subversion in Algeria, and planned to take part in jihad there. - He knew Algerian Al-Qa'ida members in Kabul, Afghanistan. - The detainee associated with Islamic extremists, and at least three persons whom he considered terrorists. - The detainee is a personal friend of Ahmed Ressam, arrested at the U.S.-Canada border en route to a terrorist attack in the United States. - He provided financing and equipment to Ressam.
SOURCE: Montreal Gazette (Canada.com)
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