Nizar Sassi

Nizar Sassi (born August 1, 1979) is a citizen of France who was detained by the United States in their Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 325.

Sassi was transferred to Guantanamo Bay in 2002. He was repatriated to France on July 27, 2004. Sassis remained in French custody until January 9, 2006. Although originally convicted in France, his trial was overturned and he was released in February 2009.

Sassi worked for the Vénissieux Council. Vénissieux is a suburb of Lyon, France.

According to his brother, Aymen, Nizar traveled to Pakistan to learn formal Arabic.

Security authorities claim Sassi travelled to Afghanistan in 2001 at the direction of, an alleged al-Qaeda recruiter. Mourad Benchellali and Sassi are alleged to have traveled to Afghanistan on forged passports.

Nizar Sassi and four other men stood trial on terrorism charges upon their return to France. The five men's convictions were overturned in February 2009, because they had improperly been interviewed by France's intelligence officials, who were not authorized to act in a law enforcement role. On February 17, 2010, the Court of Cassation, a higher court, ordered a re-trial of the five men.

Mourad Benchellali's McClatchy interview

On June 15, 2008, the McClatchy News Service published articles based on interviews with 66 former Guantanamo captives. McClatchy reporters interviewed Mourad Benchellali in France. In his interview Mourad described how he and Nizar were tricked into traveling to Afghanistan by his older brother Menad Benchellali. He described how they found Afghanistan nothing like what they expected. He described not speaking Pashto, Dari or Arabic, but they met some Algerians who spoke French, who suggested they attend a religious camp.

During his interview Mourad described what it was like to attend the training camp: a lot of 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.

Sued American officials

Sassi and Mourad Benchellali sued several senior American officials, over the torture they were subjected to there.