SPAIN: A high-profile judge called on the Spanish government yesterday to seek the extradition of four suspected al-Qaeda members who are being held at the US Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.
In what Spanish court sources said was the first case of its kind, High Court Judge Baltasar Garzon said in a court order that the four men had close links to a Spanish al-Qaeda cell he was investigating.
Judge Garzon said they could be extradited because they currently faced no charges in the US, and were not wanted there for political or military crimes.
US authorities have said the Guantanamo military prison is outside the jurisdiction of mainland courts. However, Judge Garzon said the base was under US jurisdiction and subject to a 1971 extradition treaty with Spain.
In a 48-page document detailing scores of telephone conversations and meetings, Judge Garzon accused the four men of forming part of al-Qaeda and its recruitment structure in Europe.
The judge named the four as Spaniard Hamed Abderrahman Ahmad, Moroccan Lahcen Ikassrien, and Jamiel Abdul Latif al Banna and Omar Deghayes. The nationalities of the last two were not given.
Judge Garzon, who rose to prominence with a failed attempt to extradite former Chilean dictator Gen Augusto Pinochet, sent his request to Spanish Justice Minister Jose Maria Michavila.
The Spanish government, one of Washington's closest allies in its war on terror, must now decide whether to pursue the extraditions.
In August, Madrid rejected a petition from Judge Garzon to extradite 40 people he accused of genocide and terrorism in Argentina's 1976-1983 "dirty war".
The US has kept more than 600 people from several countries captive in Guantanamo, on the eastern tip of Cuba.