Mourad Benchellali

Mourad Benchellali is a French citizen, who was captured by Pakistanis forces and detained in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps.

Benchellali was transferred from US custody to French custody in July 2004. Although originally convicted in France, his trial was overturned and he was released in February 2009.

Accounts of his detention Benchellali has published a book describing his experience traveling to Afghanistan, his capture, and detention. Following the first three suicides at Guantanamo the New York Times published an op-ed by Benchellali, entitled "Detainees in despair".

In the op-ed, Benchellali described how he came to spend two months in an al Qaeda training camp:

In the early summer of 2001, when I was 19, I made the mistake of listening to my older brother and going to Afghanistan on what I thought was a dream vacation. His friends, he said, were going to look after me. They did — channeling me to what turned out to be a Qaeda training camp. For two months, I was there, trapped in the middle of the desert by fear and my own stupidity.

Benchellali said that his training didn't make him an enemy of the United States, that as soon as his course was finished he made his way to the Pakistan border, so he could fly back to France. But, by the time he got there he learned of the al Qaeda attacks of September 11, 2001, and that, as a result, the border was closed. He crossed the border through an unguarded mountain pass, but was soon captured by Pakistani authorities.

Benchellali concluded his op-ed with: Benchellali acknowledged he was born in a radical family, but said he was not a radical believer himself:

During his interview Benchellali described his brother tricking him into traveling to Afghanistan, described what it was like to attend the training camp: a lot praying; lectures on jihad; physical training; some weapons training, which did not include any weapons. 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.

The pair's lawyers argued that Miller was responsible for ordering the unauthorized use of interrogation techniques which violated international agreements, and constituted war crimes.

The French court scheduled Miller's appearance for March 2016.