Lahcen Ikassrien is a citizen of
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
who was held in
extrajudicial detention
Administrative detention is arrest and detention of individuals by the state without trial. A number of jurisdictions claim that it is done for security reasons. Many countries claim to use administrative detention as a means to combat terrorism ...
in the United States
Guantanamo Bay detainment camp
The Guantanamo Bay detention camp ( es, Centro de detención de la bahía de Guantánamo) is a United States military prison located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also referred to as Guantánamo, GTMO, and Gitmo (), on the coast of Guant ...
s, in
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
.
[
]
Ikassrien's Guantanamo
ISN was 72.
The
Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to:
Current departments of defence
* Department of Defence (Australia)
* Department of National Defence (Canada)
* Department of Defence (Ireland)
* Department of National Defense (Philipp ...
reports that Ikassrien was born on October 2, 1972, in
Targist
Targuist (Tarifit: Targist, ⵜⴰⵔⴳⵉⵙⵜ; Arabic: تارجيست) is a town in Al Hoceïma Province, Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima, Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb ...
, Morocco.
On June 16, 2014, he was arrested in
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
accused of jihadism.
[ He received a 10 year sentence, on September 30, 2016, after being convicted of recruiting individuals to go to war-torn ]Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
. Ikassrien alleged that he and other Guantanamo Bay detainees were tortured during their detention, and a Spanish magisterial investigation concluded that they had been subject to abusive interrogation techniques.
Background
When Ikassrien was first captured authorities thought his name was Reswan A. Abdesalam.[
His real identity was revealed through his fingerprints.
Ikassrien was believed to have ties to ]Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas
Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas alias Abu Dahdah ( ar, أبو الدحداح 'Abū ad-Daḥdāh) is a Syrian-born Spaniard sentenced to a 27-year prison term in Spain for his part in the September 11, 2001, attacks and for his membership in the banned ...
, a mastermind of the Madrid bombing.[
On July 18, 2005, Ikassrien was extradited to stand trial in Spain.][
The '']International Herald Tribune
The ''International Herald Tribune'' (''IHT'') was a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris, France for international English-speaking readers. It had the aim of becoming "the world's first global newspaper" and could fairly be said ...
'' reported that Ikassrien was acquitted on October 11, 2006.[ Spanish court acquits Moroccan who was held at Guantanamo]
''International Herald Tribune
The ''International Herald Tribune'' (''IHT'') was a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris, France for international English-speaking readers. It had the aim of becoming "the world's first global newspaper" and could fairly be said ...
'', October 11, 2006
Official status reviews
Originally the Bush
Bush commonly refers to:
* Shrub, a small or medium woody plant
Bush, Bushes, or the bush may also refer to:
People
* Bush (surname), including any of several people with that name
**Bush family, a prominent American family that includes:
*** ...
Presidency
A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified by a ...
asserted that captives apprehended in the ''"war on terror
The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international Counterterrorism, counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campa ...
"'' were not covered by the Geneva Conventions
upright=1.15, Original document in single pages, 1864
The Geneva Conventions are four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war. The singular term ''Geneva Conven ...
, and could be held indefinitely, without charge, and without an open and transparent review of the justifications for their detention.[
]
In 2004 the United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
ruled, in Rasul v. Bush, that Guantanamo captives were entitled to being informed of the allegations justifying their detention, and were entitled to try to refute them.
Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants
Following the Supreme Court's ruling, the Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to:
Current departments of defence
* Department of Defence (Australia)
* Department of National Defence (Canada)
* Department of Defence (Ireland)
* Department of National Defense (Philipp ...
set up the .[
]
Combatant status review
Initially, the Bush administration asserted that they could withhold all the protections of the Geneva Conventions
upright=1.15, Original document in single pages, 1864
The Geneva Conventions are four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war. The singular term ''Geneva Conven ...
to captives from the war on terror
The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campaign are militant ...
. This policy was challenged before the Judicial branch. Critics argued that the USA could not evade its obligation to conduct competent tribunal
Competent Tribunal is a term used in Article 5 paragraph 2 of the Third Geneva Convention, which states:
ICRC commentary on competent tribunals
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) commentary on Article 5 of the Third Geneva Con ...
s to determine whether captives are, or are not, entitled to the protections of prisoner of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...
status.
Subsequently, the Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to:
Current departments of defence
* Department of Defence (Australia)
* Department of National Defence (Canada)
* Department of Defence (Ireland)
* Department of National Defense (Philipp ...
instituted the Combatant Status Review Tribunal
The Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRT) were a set of tribunals for confirming whether detainees held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp had been correctly designated as "enemy combatants". The CSRTs were esta ...
s. The Tribunals, however, were not authorized to determine whether the captives were ''lawful combatants''—rather they were merely empowered to make a recommendation as to whether the captive had previously been correctly determined to match the Bush administration's definition of an enemy combatant
Enemy combatant is a person who, either lawfully or unlawfully, engages in hostilities for the other side in an armed conflict. Usually enemy combatants are members of the armed forces of the state with which another state is at war. In the case ...
.
Allegations
The following allegations were presented to his Tribunal:[
]
Transcript
There is no record that Lahcen Ikassrien chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.
Torture
On November 19, 2006, ''El País
''El País'' (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. ''El País'' is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA.
It is the second most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . ''El Pa ...
'' published an article in which Ikassrien alleges that he had been tortured repeatedly over the course of a month during his detention in Kandahar
Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a List of cities in Afghanistan, city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population ...
. He alleges that he was subjected to various forms of torture, including being trapped with aggressive dogs, being tied up, and that soldiers held him in a cage where they showered him with feces and urine while calling him "Animal No. 64".
Torture claims investigation
On April 29, 2009, that Spanish investigating magistrate Baltasar Garzon initiated a formal investigation into whether confessions from Ikassrien,
and three other former Guantanamo captives were the result of the use of abusive interrogation techniques.[
][
][
]
Ikassrien,
and the other three men:
Hamed Abderrahman Ahmed, Jamiel Abdul Latif al Banna and Omar Deghayes, had previously faced charges in Spanish courts, based on confessions they made while in US custody.
Their charges had been dropped based on their claims that their confessions were false and were the result of abusive interrogation techniques.
See also
* The Bush Six
* Torture
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...
* Imran v. Bush
References
External links
The Case of Lahcen Ikassrien: Torture in Kandahar and Guantánamo
Andy Worthington
Animal Number 64
''El País'' – November 20, 2006 (translated into English by the Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas)
The Guantánamo Files: Website Extras (1) – The Qala-i-Janghi Massacre
Andy Worthington
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ikassrien, Lahcen
Moroccan extrajudicial prisoners of the United States
Berber Moroccans
Living people
1972 births
Guantanamo detainees known to have been released
Kandahar detention facility detainees
People extradited from the United States
People extradited to Spain