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Slimane Hadj Abderrahmane

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Slimane Hadj Abderrahmane
Born(1973-08-05)5 August 1973[1]
Roskilde, Denmark
Arrested2002
Pakistan
Released2004
Denmark
Died16 February 2013(2013-02-16) (aged 39)
Syria
CitizenshipDanish
Detained at Guantanamo
ISN323
Charge(s)No charge
Extrajudicial detention
StatusRepatriated
OccupationPostman

Slimane Hadj Abderrahmane (5 August 1973 – 16 February 2013) was a Danish citizen who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.[2] His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 323. The US Department of Defense reports he was born on 5 August 1973, in Roskilde, Denmark.[3] His mother is Danish and his father is Algerian.[4] When he was eight his family returned to Algeria, but his mother moved back to Denmark a year later.[3] Then he lived with his paternal grandmother.[3]

In 1993 Abderrahmane left Algeria and settled in Randers, Denmark, where he joined a music group and worked as a DJ in a club.[3] He attended Aarhus University until 1998, but he did not complete his studies.[3]

He is reported to have been inspired to travel to Afghanistan in the late 1990s at the Grimhøj Mosque [da], founded by an Algerian refugee named Athme Meheri.[5] Danish journalist Morten Skjoldager [da] described Meheri's mosque as a "radical mosque" in his book Truslen indefra (The Threat from Within). Abderrahmane was captured, in December 2001, in Afghanistan, near the Pakistan border.[6] He was transferred to Guantanamo on 10 February 2002.[7][8] He was repatriated to Denmark on 24 February 2004.[9]

Abderrahmane's explanation for how he came to be captured was that he had traveled there to enroll in an Afghan military training camp to undergoing training so he could go fight with Muslim rebels in Chechnya.[6] Abderrahmane was held in Guantanamo Bay for over two years.[10][11] According to an article in U.S. News & World Report he was released in spite of reservations from US security officials because the Danes had threatened to withdraw their troops if he was not released. Abderrahmane was the subject of a 2004 book entitled Den naive terrorist.[11]

After his release, Abderrahmane announced plans to travel to fight in Chechnya.[6] He said he regarded the document he signed promising not to take part in terrorist activity as "toilet paper". Danish security officials talked him out of his trip. He has said that Denmark's role in the Occupation of Iraq meant that he thought Danish leaders were legitimate military targets.[6] On 10 October 2007, in the Copenhagen suburb of Greve, Abderrahmane was sentenced to 10 months in jail for the theft of two passports and three credit cards which he used to withdraw more than 110,000 Danish kroner (approximately US$20,000).[12][failed verification][13][unreliable source] The items were stolen from the mail sorting office where Abderrahmane was working under a new Danish name. Police only recovered a small proportion of the stolen money and it is unknown where or how the remainder of the money was spent. During the trial, Abderrahmane refused to testify. He also refused to speak to or co-operate with his assigned lawyer.[citation needed]

In 2013, it was reported that he had been killed after joining the Syrian Civil War against Bashar al Assad.[14] According to the Copenhagen Post Slimane was believed to be one of a number of Danish Muslims who had traveled to Syria to volunteer to help overthrow Assad.[15] Reason and Long War Journal wrote that Slimane's death underscored the international contribution to the Syrian opposition.[16][17]

On 25 August 2014, the High Court of Eastern Denmark refused to issue a legal finding of death regarding Slimane Hahj Abderrahmane. The appeals court did not find any facts sufficiently substantiated an assumption of death.[18]

References

  1. ^ Memorandum for Commander, United States Southern Command Department of Defense. Retrieved 4 February 2023
  2. ^ "List of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002 through May 15, 2006" (PDF). United States Department of Defense. 15 May 2006. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 29 September 2007.
  3. ^ a b c d e Helen Russell (25 March 2013). "From techno DJ in Denmark to martyrdom fighting Assad in Syria: the life and death of Slimane Hadj Abderrahmane". Independent. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  4. ^ "Danish detainee 'to join rebels'". BBC News. 30 September 2004. Archived from the original on 19 December 2006. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  5. ^ "Morten Skjoldager". Dansk Journalistforbund. 2009. Retrieved 7 April 2010.[permanent dead link]
  6. ^ a b c d "Danish detainee 'to join rebels'". BBC. 30 September 2004. Archived from the original on 12 March 2007. Retrieved 5 January 2007.
  7. ^ JTF-GTMO (16 March 2007). "Measurements of Heights and Weights of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba". Department of Defense. Archived from the original on 25 January 2009. Retrieved 22 December 2008.
  8. ^ "Measurements of Heights and Weights of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (ordered and consolidated version)" (PDF). Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas, from DoD data. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 June 2010. Retrieved 22 April 2010.
  9. ^ "Consolidated chronological listing of GTMO detainees released, transferred or deceased" (PDF). Department of Defense. 9 October 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 December 2008. Retrieved 28 December 2008.
  10. ^ Mark Mazzetti (8 March 2004). "Getting A Free Pass: Anger over a deal to release a 'terrorist'". U.S. News & World Report. Archived from the original on 10 March 2007. Retrieved 5 January 2007.
  11. ^ a b Jakob Holm (9 June 2004). "BØGER: Interessant, men problematisk interviewbog med den frigivne dansker fra Guatánamo-basen" [BOOKS: Interesting, but problematic interview with the Dane freed from Guatánamo base]. Kristeligt Dagblad (in Danish). Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 7 April 2010. It is described as the big journalistic scoop that the two Politiken journalists Hans Davidsen-Nielsen and Matias Seidelin have tricked the now freed Dane from Guantanamo detention center in a northern Zealand holiday for five days, there to hear his whole story about religious awakening and 747 days in U.S. custody.
  12. ^ "Former Danish Guantanamo prisoner jailed for theft of passports, debit cards". BBC News. 30 October 2007. Archived from the original on 10 October 2011. Retrieved 6 April 2010.
  13. ^ Hans Rustad (27 August 2007). "Eks-Guantanamo var postbud and og tyv" [Ex-Guantanamo was a postman and a thief] (in Danish). Document.no. Archived from the original on 22 August 2009. Retrieved 7 April 2010. Abderrahmane was starting a new life with a new average name, in a secret address, and a job as postman. Now he is arrested for stealing two passports and three credit cards that he has taken out 100,000 dollars on.
  14. ^ "Danish jihadist reported dead". The Copenhagen Post. 19 February 2013. Archived from the original on 20 February 2013. Retrieved 20 February 2013. Politiken newspaper reported, however, that Abderrahmane and another Danish citizen were killed on Saturday.
  15. ^ "Danish jihadist killed in combat in Syria". Copenhagen. United Press International. 20 February 2013. Archived from the original on 20 February 2013. Retrieved 21 February 2013. The Danish intelligence agency couldn't confirm, however, whether Abderrahmane, 39, had been killed, The Copenhagen Post reported.
  16. ^ Matthew Feeney (20 February 2013). "Death of Danish Jihadist Highlights International Makeup of Assad's Opposition". Archived from the original on 21 February 2013. Retrieved 21 February 2013. Many jihadists have been fighting and dying in the Syrian conflict, and the death of Abderrahmane is at first glance nothing particularly worth noting. However, Abderrahmane's death highlights the international nature of the Syrian conflict and the different ideals motivating Assad's diverse opposition.
  17. ^ Thomas Joscelyn (20 February 2013). "Ex-Guantanamo detainee reportedly killed in Syria". Long War Journal. Archived from the original on 21 February 2013. Retrieved 21 February 2013. The Facebook page for a group named Islamisk Budskab in Denmark announced Abderrahmane's martyrdom earlier this week. The group, which has al Qaeda in Iraq's flag on the header of its Facebook page, said that Danes should be "proud" of Abderrahmane because he finally achieved his goal.
  18. ^ "Landsret nægter at erklære Syrienkriger for død – Politiken.dk". 27 August 2014. Archived from the original on 9 December 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
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