French Trial
Khaled Ben Mustafa, and four other French citizens, were convicted in 2007 of "criminal association with a terrorist enterprise." They had their convictions overturned on appeal on February 24, 2009. Their convictions were overturned because they were based on interrogations conducted in Guantanamo, and the interrogations were conducted by French security officials, not law enforcement officials.
On February 17, 2010, a higher court of appeals, the Court of Cessations, re-instated the charges against the six men. On January 20, 2011, Mustafa`s lawyers cited diplomatic cables published by whistleblower organization WikiLeaks which they argued showed inappropriate cooperation between French and American officials. On January 18, 2012, Sophie Clement, the Chief Investigating Magistrate in the six men's case, requested permission to go to Guantanamo, to investigate the claims of Ben Mustafa and the other men that they had been tortured. She requested access to the internal documents about the men. According to the Associated Press,
Philippe Meilhac, Ben Mustafa's lawyer, described Clement's request as "unprecedented":
“This is unprecedented. But it’s normal that the judge leading the investigation approach those concerned at Guantanamo to verify these claims.”
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