Urgent appeal for legal funds for Mosa Zemmouri

<div class="field_article_img"> <div><em>London</em> - CAGE is launching an urgent appeal for funds for legal assistance for Mosa Zemmouri, who is currently languishing in solitary confinement in Belgium, pending upcoming court hearing.</div> </div> <div></div> <div style="text-align: center;"></div> <h3>Innocent in Guantanamo</h3> <div>Zemmouri was abducted and sold to the United States by Pakistani security forces after 9/11. He was then illegally rendered to a detention facility in Kandahar, Afghanistan. In February 2003, he was transported to Guantanamo Bay prison, aged only 23, where he was incarcerated for the next three years without any charge or trial and under torture.</div> <div></div> <div>After three years, the United States and later Belgian authorities cleared him of any wrongdoing, and he was released an innocent man.</div> <div></div> <div>After his release, he participated in conferences run by CAGE campaigning for the rights of Guantanamo Bay prisoners. He opened the conferences with emotional <strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyVylXXOl4s">recitations</a> </strong>of the <strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yj4lRtVgR3E">Quran</a></strong>.</div> <div></div> <h3>Shaky charges</h3> <div>Zemmouri was arrested in 2015 on shaky charges relating to a robbery near a residence in Antwerp in July. Authorities immediately alleged in the media that a weapon had been recovered in his car and that he had assisted the four men to commit the robbery by providing information in order to finance terrorist activities in Syria.</div> <div></div> <div>However, when pressed by the lawyers, the police admitted that no weapon had been found in his car. Rather, they had searched his neighbour’s car and found a Taser.</div> <div></div> <div>Furthermore, the alleged head of the group arrested at the scene admitted that he had received the information necessary to commit the robbery from a fifth man, not Mosa Zemmouri.</div> <div></div> <div>Investigators found numerous communications between the alleged leader of the group and the fifth man. The confession and the communications led to the fifth man’s arrest.</div> <div></div> <div>The fifth man, however, was released immediately.</div> <div></div> <h3>Inhumane conditions</h3> <div>Zemmouri has been placed in isolation. He is kept under those conditions pending investigation. He is however, due to appear in court this week and his family already owes lawyers over 20 000 euros. Zemmouri is not eligible for legal aid due to the nature of the allegations, but zakat can be made.</div> <div></div> <h3>Donate now</h3> <div>CAGE is appealing to all those of means to assist Zemmouri in his case before the Belgian court. Money should be transferred to his wife:</div> <div></div> <div>Name: Patrzlek</div> <div>IBAN: NL93RABO0117298735</div> <div>BIC: RABONL2U</div> <div></div> <div><strong>You can also donate online <a href="https://www.igiveonline.com/eu/campaigns/urgent-appeal-legal-funds-for-mosa-zemmouri/">here</a>. </strong></div> <div></div> <div>He is represented by lawyer Walter Van Steenbrugge from<strong> <a href="http://www.vansteenbrugge-vennoten.be/">Van Steenbrugge</a>. </strong></div> <div></div> <div></div> <p style="text-align: center;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yj4lRtVgR3E" width="400" height="225" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gyVylXXOl4s" width="400" height="225" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <p style="text-align: center;"></p> <em><strong>For more information on Mosa Zemmouri, please see his full case profile <a href="https://cage.ngo/?p=5879">here</a>. </strong></em>