Rachid Ramda (born , El Ogla, also known as "Abou Farès") is an

Algerian Algerian may refer to: * Something of, or related to Algeria * Algerian people This article is about the demographic features of the population of Algeria, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, econo ...

man

convicted In law, a conviction is the verdict reached by a court of law finding a defendant guilty of a crime. The opposite of a conviction is an acquittal (that is, "not guilty"). In Scotland, there can also be a verdict of "not proven", which is consid ...

of the 1995 bombings against French public transportation systems. He has denied his involvement.''«La révolution était une obligation religieuse»'', interview with Rachid Ramda published in ''

Libération ''Libération'' (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Initially positioned on the far-left of France's ...

'' on 1 Octoberst, 200
read here

Algeria

Rachid Ramda was born in El Ogla on 29 September 1969, in the east of

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

. He is from a

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–196 ...

Chaouia family, although

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

is his native language. All the members of his family are well educated: one of his brothers is an

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

, another a

computer scientist A computer scientist is a person who is trained in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation, as opposed to the hardware side on which computer engineers mainly focus (al ...

. Ramda studied architecture at the Institut Polytechnique. He became a supporter of the

Islamic Salvation Front The Islamic Salvation Front ( ar, الجبهة الإسلامية للإنقاذ, al-Jabhah al-Islāmiyah lil-Inqādh; french: Front Islamique du Salut, FIS) was an Islamist political party in Algeria. The party had two major leaders representi ...

(FIS) when it was founded in 1988; his literature teacher was a co-founder of the FIS. According to his own statements, he left Algeria in 1989 for

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, thus before the cancellation of the elections which set the stage for the

Algerian Civil War The Algerian Civil War ( ar, rtl=yes, الْحَرْبُ الْأَهْلِيَّةُ الجَزَائِرِيَّةُ, al-Ḥarb al-ʾAhlīyah al-Jazāʾirīyah) was a civil war in Algeria fought between the Algerian government and various Is ...

, and before the formation of the

Armed Islamic Group of Algeria The Armed Islamic Group (GIA, from french: Groupe Islamique Armé; ar, الجماعة الإسلامية المسلّحة, al-Jamāʿa l-ʾIslāmiyya l-Musallaḥa) was one of the two main Islamist insurgent groups that fought the Algerian gove ...

(GIA). In Pakistan, he entered into contact with

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

humanitarian Humanitarianism is an active belief in the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotional ...

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

s and other NGOs (including

Doctors Without Borders Doctor or The Doctor may refer to: Personal titles * Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree * A medical practitioner, including: ** Physician ** Surgeon ** Dentist ** Veterinary physician ** Optometrist *Other roles ** ...

) assisting

Afghan refugees Afghan refugees are citizens of Afghanistan who were compelled to abandon their country as a result of major wars, persecution, torture or genocide. The 1978 Saur Revolution followed by the 1979 Soviet invasion marked the first wave of inter ...

. He then abandoned his architectural training. He went to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, where he wrote articles for the '' El Ansar'' newspaper. Ramda has denied the allegations of French justice that ''El Ansar'' was the official mouthpiece of the GIA. In 1993, Ramda was

sentenced Sentenced was a Finnish gothic metal band that played melodic death metal in their early years. The band formed in 1989 in the town of Muhos and broke up in 2005. History Early years (1988–1991) Sentenced started in 1988 as Deformity and c ...

death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

in Algeria ''

in absentia is Latin for absence. , a legal term, is Latin for "in the absence" or "while absent". may also refer to: * Award in absentia * Declared death in absentia, or simply, death in absentia, legally declared death without a body * Election in absen ...

'' for a 1992 terrorist attack at the

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

, which killed nine people and wounded 123.

Extradition

Ramda was granted

refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

status in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. After the 1995 bombings in France, he was arrested in London on 4 November 1995, accused by French

prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the Civil law (legal system), civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the ...

s of having funded the bombings and of being their mastermind. Ramda has denied the funding role, citing a report from the

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...

inspector Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it. Australia In Australian police forces, the rank of inspector is generally the ne ...

John MacMillan of 23 November 1995, which stated that "no bank accounts have been identified which could be associated with Ramda, or the other possible names used." He did, however, admit that his

fingerprint A fingerprint is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. The recovery of partial fingerprints from a crime scene is an important method of forensic science. Moisture and grease on a finger result in fingerprints on surfac ...

s had been found on a

Western Union The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services company, headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York, the company chang ...

money order A money order is a directive to pay a pre-specified amount of money from prepaid funds, making it a more trusted method of payment than a cheque. History The money order system was established by a private firm in Great Britain in 1792 and was ...

of 38,000

francs The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' (King of the Franks) used on early French coins and until the 18th centu ...

sent to the bomber Ait Ali Belkacem. Ramda claimed that he did not know Ait Ali Belkacem; he has also denied knowing the other bomber, Boualem Bensaid. Ramda was detained in the HSSU high-security unit of

Belmarsh prison His Majesty's Prison Belmarsh is a Category-A men's prison in Thamesmead, south-east London, England. The prison is used in high-profile cases, particularly those concerning national security. Within the prison grounds there is a unique unit ca ...

in London, which he has compared to Guantanamo. France requested the

extradition Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdict ...

of Ramda from the United Kingdom; Ramda successfully fought

until 2005. The refusal of British authorities to extradite Ramda was a point of contention between France and the UK, with many in France and elsewhere alleging that the British government was deliberately lenient to

Islamist terrorist Islamic terrorism (also known as Islamist terrorism or radical Islamic terrorism) refers to terrorist acts with religious motivations carried out by fundamentalist militant Islamists and Islamic extremists. Incidents and fatalities ...

s operating outside of the UK in order to buy peace in the UK (the alleged "

Londonistan "Londonistan" is an Islamophobic sobriquet referring to the British capital of London and the growing Muslim population of late-20th- and early-21st-century London. The word is a portmanteau of the UK's capital and the Persian suffix -stan, m ...

" policy). In fact, British ministers repeatedly tried to extradite Ramda, but had their decisions overturned by the British High Court. The

July 2005 London bombings The following is a timeline of the 7 July 2005 London bombings and 21 July 2005 London bombings. All times are in British Summer Time ( BST or UTC+01:00). First explosions 7 July 2005 * 08:50: Initial reports of an incident between Liverpo ...

changed sentiment and paved the way for Ramda's extradition in December 2005.

Trial in France

After exhausting all his appeals, Ramda was handed over to French custody on 1 December 2005. Transferred to the '' Palais de Justice'' of Paris, he was formally informed of four

indictment An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a legal person, person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felony, felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concep ...

s laid against him by the French justice: one for criminal association with a

terrorist organisation A number of national governments and two international organizations have created lists of organizations that they designate as terrorist. The following list of designated terrorist groups lists groups designated as terrorist by current and fo ...

(specifically for providing funding to the GIA, and three in relation to three

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

attacks in Paris in 1995. The former, being a "délit", i.e. a crime of intermediate seriousness, would be tried in the Tribunal Correctionnel; and the latter three, considered felonies (that is, carrying a possible sentence of more than 10 years) in the

Cour d'assises In France, a ''cour d'assises'', or Court of Assizes or Assize Court, is a criminal trial court with original and appellate limited jurisdiction to hear cases involving defendants accused of felonies, meaning crimes as defined in French law. ...

. On 29 March 2006 Ramda was convicted of

criminal association In criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to commit a crime at some time in the future. Criminal law in some countries or for some conspiracies may require that at least one overt act be undertaken in furtherance o ...

with a

organisation and sentenced to ten years in prison by the Tribunal Correctionel, the maximum possible sentence. He had refused to co-operate in his own defense. This sentence was confirmed by the

Appeal Court A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

in December 2006.Dans "Libération", Rachid Ramda nie les accusations portées contre lui
''

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

'', 1 Octoberst, 2007 In an October 2007 interview with ''

'', Ramda rejected accusations that he was a mastermind of the Algerian

radical Radical may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Radical politics, the political intent of fundamental societal change *Radicalism (historical), the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and ...

Islamist movement and a prominent figure of the GIA. The

prosecution A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal trial ...

has showed his fingerprints were on a

of 38,000 francs sent to the bomber Ait Ali Belkacem. Ramda claims that he did not know Belkacem, although he admits that it was his fingerprints on the money order. He claims that the prosecution has given a false interpretation of this

evidence Evidence for a proposition is what supports this proposition. It is usually understood as an indication that the supported proposition is true. What role evidence plays and how it is conceived varies from field to field. In epistemology, evidenc ...

. Further evidence submitted by the prosecution concerns

wiretap Telephone tapping (also wire tapping or wiretapping in American English) is the monitoring of telephone and Internet-based conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The wire tap received its name because, historically, the monitorin ...

s of phone communications between Ramda and the bombers in France, a short time before and after the bombings. According to Ramda, he has not been allowed to listen to these wiretaps, and he doubts they exist. He denied having phoned the bombers and knowing them. Ramda stated that detention conditions in France were similar to Belmarsh, and that he was badly treated by

French police Law enforcement in France has a long history dating back to AD 570 when night watch systems were commonplace.Dammer, H. R. and Albanese, J. S. (2014). ''Comparative Criminal Justice Systems'' (5th ed.). Wadesworth Cengage learning: Belmont, ...

. He declared that he thought, at first, that this was specific to terror suspects, but now he believes that all detainees are treated this way. Another trial against him began in October 2007 before the

. The bombers Bensaïd and Belkacem were both given

life sentence Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

s in 2002, but Ramda's case had been severed from theirs.Rachid Ramda jugé pour les attentats de 1995
RTL, October 1st, 2007 He was charged of "complicity of

assassination Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...

in relation with a terrorist enterprise". He was convicted in this trial on 26 October 2007, and given a life sentence, with the requirement that he serve at least twenty-two years.French court convicts Algerian of Paris bombings
Reuters, 26 October 2007

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramda, Rachid 1969 births Living people 20th-century criminals Algerian criminals Algerian emigrants to France Algerian emigrants to the United Kingdom Algerian prisoners sentenced to death Algerian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment France–United Kingdom relations Islamic terrorism in France Male criminals People convicted on terrorism charges People from Tébessa Province People sentenced to death in absentia Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by France