Six Frenchmen on Trial in Paris on Charges of Links to Al-Qaida
03 July 2006
Six Frenchmen released from the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay over the past two years have gone on trial in Paris on charges of links to al-Qaida terrorists.
The six defendants were captured during U.S.-led operations that ousted the Taleban regime from Afghanistan in late 2001. A seventh French suspect has been cleared of any wrongdoing and has been freed.
Prosecutors say the suspects received training at al-Qaida camps near the southern Afghan city of Kandahar in 2000 and 2001.
Suspect Mourad Benchellali wrote in the New York Times newspaper last month that he was duped by his older brother into thinking he was going to Afghanistan on vacation. He said the vacation ended up being an al-Qaida training camp where he was trapped there for two months.
The French news agency says the trial is expected to last at least a week.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
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