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