Two former Guantanamo detainees arrested in Belgium

July 26, 2015 00:32

Two former detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba were arrested by Belgian police in a counterterrorism operation targeting a recruiting network for al Qaeda in Syria.

They were arrested Wednesday night along with three others as they were about to break into a house to raise funds in the town of Hoboken, near Antwerp, a senior Belgian counterterrorism official told CNN.

"We have dismantled a serious recruiting network for Syria," the official told CNN.

One of the former Guantanamo Bay detainees was Moussa Zemmouri, 37, a Moroccan national born in Antwerp, Belgian federal prosecutors announced Friday. The other was an Algerian identified as Soufiane A., who prosecutors believe spent time in Syria.

Both have been charged with participating in the activities of a terrorist group and all five have been charged with attempted armed robbery.

Zemmouri was released from Guantanamo in 2005 and authored a book "Innocent at Guantanamo" after returning to Belgium. His case was featured prominently by the UK Muslim prisoner advocacy group CAGE, which has long maintained that he has no links to terrorism.

TOP STORIES

Drop-in pitch for Indo-Pak match set for installation

The development of the pitches has been undertaken by Adelaide Oval Turf Solutions, led by renowned Adelaide Oval head curator Damian Hough.

GST collection breaches Rs 2 lakh cr-milestone

The country's gross GST collections hit a record high of Rs 2.10 lakh crore in April, growing 12.4 per cent year on year driven by a strong increase in domestic transactions and imports. GST collections breach landmark milestone of Rs 2...

Bengal's tea industry seeks a new flavour

The alpona (artwork) on the steep, winding road leading to Makaibari bears testimony to the visit of G20 delegates for the second tourism working group meeting in April last year. The lush tea bushes, the delegates joining in for the...

Actor Rupali Ganguly joins BJP

Ganguly joined the BJP in New Delhi at the party headquarters in the presence of several other party leaders, including its national media department in-charge Anil Baluni.

Why was Hardik fined?

'The rest of the members of the Playing XI, including the Impact Player, were each individually fined either INR 6 Lac or 25 per cent of their respective match fees, whichever is lesser.'