Algerian Six

The CSRTs were criticized for applying a definition of "enemy combatant" that was so broad that it could include a "little old lady in Switzerland," who donated money to a charity in Afghanistan that, without her knowledge, funded al Qaeda.

[11] The Algerian Six were arrested by Bosnian authorities within the week, were investigated fully, and tried for the alleged plot to bomb the U.S. and British embassies in Sarajevo.

[11] The Human Rights Chamber of the Bosnian Judiciary explicitly ruled that the government must take all steps to prevent forcible deportation of the men.

[11] Petritsch also said that the US officials had threatened the UN and told him they would remove their support for an international mission he was heading if he decided to protest against Bosnia compliance with their request.

They told us that the interrogators said if they didn't cooperate that they could ensure that something would happen to their families in Algeria and in Bosnia.Following the capture of the six men by the United States, the Bosnian government argued for their release from Guantanamo Bay.

Clive Stafford Smith, legal director of the organization Reprieve, which represents numerous detainees, wrote in The Guardian, that the CSRTs applied such a broad definition of "enemy combatant" that it could include a "little old lady in Switzerland," who donated money to a charity in Afghanistan that then, without her knowledge, funded al Qaeda.

02-02999) Since July 2004, the firm of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr has had a team working with the Center for Constitutional Rights in their suit against the federal government on behalf of the Algerian Six.

In 2007, the team of Melissa Hoffer, Stephen Oleskey,[15] Rob Kirsch,[16] Mark C. Fleming,[17] Lynne Campbell Soutter,[18] Jeffrey Gleason, Lauren Brunswick, and Allyson Portney[19] traveled to Guantanamo to offer further services to six detained men.

[20] Hoffer delivered a speech[21] about their case at the 17th Concours International de Plaidoiries,[22] where she said that during interviews they described their experience as having suffered horrific abuse at Guantanamo.

According to the Washington Post, Guantanamo intelligence analysts said they continued to detain the men because of intelligence including the following:[24] The Washington Post further writes that Bush administration negotiators tried to secure face-saving deals with Bosnia and Algeria, and noted according to the article:[24] The article also notes that, although the Bush administration had declined to discuss any evidence they may have against the men, Pentagon spokesman J. D. Gordon said: There was no mistake in originally detaining these individuals as enemy combatants.

Following that decision, Judge Richard J. Leon of the Federal District Court in Washington DC ruled that the government had not provided sufficient evidence for detention and that all of the men except Bensayah Belkacem should be released.

[26][27][28][29]On March 3, 2009, El Khabar reported that, before the men were released, they had to sign documents that they would not sue the US government for their kidnapping in Bosnia.