Sabir Mahfouz Lahmar

Sabir Mahfouz Lahmar is an Algerian citizen, currently detained in Camp Delta in Guantanamo Bay.

Lahmar agreed to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.

The unclassified allegations he had to answer were:

a. The detainee is associated with al Qaida.

1. The detainee is associated with a known al Qaida facilitator..
2. XXXXXXXXXXXX made phone calls to Abu Zubaydab, a senior aide to Usama Bin Laden, who was in charge of screening recruits for al Qaida training camps in Afghanistan.
3. The detainee and XXXXXXXXXXXX were arrested on suspicion of being linked with international terrorism.
4. The detainee had charges filed against him by the Bosnia-Herzegovina govt for International Terrorism.
5. The detainee was arrested in October 01 under suspicion of planning to attack the American Embassy in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina.
6. The detainee advocated attacking U.S. forces and supported the Fatwa issued by Usama Bin Laden.
7. The detainee is a member of the Algerian Armed Islamic Group and attempted to assume leadership in the organization in November 2000.
8. The Algerian Armed Islamic Group is listed as a terrorist organization in the United States Department of Homeland Security Terrorist Organization Reference Guide.
9. The detainee applied for a visa in Sarajevo for travel to Afghanistan on 27 September 2001.
10. The detainee was jailed in late 1997, for robbing a U.S. citizen.

Lahmar's testimoney before the Tribunal was acrimonious.

He said he was arrested in his own home, in Sarajevo, not on the battlefield. The documents released by his review Tribunal confirm that.

He said that he was told that the reason for his arrest was involvement in a plot to bomb the American Embassy in Sarajevo. The documents released by his review Tribunal confirm that.

He said that although the ostensible reason for his arrest was the bomb plot his interrogators refused to interrogate him over that plot. He said he was told that if he could supply useful information he would be released.

Lahmar ridiculed the claim that he had any tie to the individual whose name was redacted in the public copy of the allegations against him.

Lahmar seems to be saying that he was detained, and whisked to Guantanamo, not for anything he did, or planned, not for any ties he might have had to terrorism, or terrorists, but because the Americans believe he knows things about other Arabs living in Bosnia who do have ties to terrorism.

Basing their determination on classified evidence the Tribunal determined that Lahmar had been appropriately classified as an "illegal combatant".

External links

• Hate Club: Al-Qaeda's Web of Terror, Time, November 4, 2001 -- Lahmar's Combatant Status Review Tribunal contained a copy of this article, marked as exhibit R6.
• documents from Sabir Mahfouz Lahmar's Combatant Status Review Tribunal