Extradition
He was eventually granted bail in July 2001. However, relief at his release was to be short-lived. As he was leaving his home (of the last four months), officers re-arrested him – this time under an extradition warrant from the USA.
The ‘evidence’ for this was based on testimony by Ahmed Ressam in the US. Ressam had been threatened with 130 years in prison. He offered U's name as a 'terrorist leader'.
Eventually Ressam withdrew his testimony and the US extradition request fell away in August 2005.
Deportation
Nevertheless, Detainee U remains held in detention now under the Immigration Law, pending deportation to Algeria – the country he originally fled from.
He says about the seven years he has spent in a British prison without charge,
“I have been treated in prison in ways that even Algerian authorities would be ashamed to consider. In Algeria, they kill you physically [along] with verbal insults. In Britain, they kill you psychologically, with a smile. I am only seeking the right to a fair, open trial. If I have done something wrong, I should be put on trial and punished. If not, then I should be released and allowed to get on with my life. Is this too much to ask?”
House Arrest
Detainee U was released on immigration bail in 2008 however was kept under the strict of conditions having been confined to his home for 24 hours a day.
Condition
At the end of February 2009, despite being freed on bail by SIAC, U was rearrested on the orders of the Home Secretary as he left the court.
He has been detained again in Long Lartin prison after closed evidence was heard in SIAC the following day.
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