SPAIN: UPDATE ON TRANSFERRED GUANTANAMO DETAINEE

C O N F I D E N T I A L MADRID 001003

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/16/2015
TAGS: KTIA PTER PHUM PINR OPDC PREL
SUBJECT: SPAIN: UPDATE ON TRANSFERRED GUANTANAMO DETAINEE

REF: A. A) SECSTATE 45506

B. B) TD/314/09169-05

Classified By: Poloff Ricardo Zuniga; reason 1.4 (D).


1. (U) The USG transferred Spanish-national Guantanamo
detainee Hamed Abd al Rahman Ahmed (DPOB: September 22, 1974,
Ceuta, Spain) to Spanish custody on February 14, 2004. He
was held for five months on suspicion of membership in a
terrorist organization and released on EUROS 3,000 bail (USD
3,990) on July 13, 2004. Ahmed is required to report daily
to a police station near his home, must appear at a local
courthouse once a week, and is barred from leaving Spanish
territory. Ahmed reportedly acknowledged to Baltasar Garzon,
the high-profile judge investigating his case, that he had
joined the Taliban in Afghanistan, but denied being a member
of al-Qaida.


2. (C) Ahmed remains under investigation for his suspected
association with the Spain-based al-Qaida cell headed by Imad
Eddin Barakat Yarkas, who is in detention awaiting trial on
charges of helping organize terrorist groups in Spain and
supporting the September 11 attacks in the U.S. Ahmed
currently resides with his family in the North African
Spanish enclave of Ceuta. See ref B for details regarding
Spanish government's assessment of Ahmed since his release on
bail.
MANZANARES