A judge granted provisional release to three Moroccans formerly held at Guantanamo Bay on Monday, including a man said to have been Osama bin Laden’s bodyguard, as their trial on terror charges began, lawyers said.
The three men expected to leave jail on Monday night included Abdellah Tabarak, 49. Tabarak gained prominence after U.S. media quoted U.S. State Department memos as saying he had helped the fugitive al-Qaida leader escape in the rugged mountains of eastern Afghanistan in late 2001.
Tabarak’s lawyer, Abdelfettah Zahrach, dismissed the reports as fabrications probably fed to the media by U.S. intelligence services.
Lawyers for the five men had argued in court their clients’ detention lacked any legal ground.
“The judge decided to grant provisional release to the three, he did not say why,” Zahrach said. Under provisional release the men will be monitored by authorities and cannot travel abroad.
Two other defendants released were Redouane Chakouri and Mohamed Ouzar. Mohamed Mazouz and Brahim Benchekroun were ordered held.
The judge postponed the hearings until Dec. 27 to allow defense lawyers additional time to prepare.
The five men, who appeared in court dressed in traditional jellaba and cap, were captured in Afghanistan in late 2001 during the U.S.-led war against the ruling Taliban militia.
They were handed over to Moroccan authorities in August after being imprisoned at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Charges against them included belonging to or assisting a criminal group “with the intent to commit terrorist acts.”
Tabarak’s lawyer told Reuters last week that whatever the five men were accused of did not take place in Morocco, their transfer back home was illegal and they were never a “criminal group” since they met in jail in Guantanamo.
One of Washington’s strongest allies in the Arab world, Morocco has sided with the U.S. administration in its global war on terrorism. About a dozen Moroccans are still believed to be held at Guantanamo Bay.
After al-Qaida-inspired suicide attacks in Casablanca in May 2003 killed 45 people, including 12 bombers, Morocco passed sweeping counter-terror legislation.
More than 1,000 people have been jailed on terrorism charges since then after what local and international human rights groups called flawed trials with confessions sometimes extracted by torture.
