France arrests imam in Chechnya probe

Published: 12 January 2004 y., Monday
Anti-terrorist officers from the DST domestic security service swooped on the suspects in dawn raids in the Venissieux suburb of Lyon on Tuesday. Chellali Benchellali, the imam of Venissieux mosque, was detained along with his wife Hafsa and one of their sons, Hafed, as well as up to five others. "(The arrests) will act as a brake on all these networks and this radical and political Islam which is doing so much harm in our suburbs," Venissieux mayor Andre Gerin, a communist, said. Another of the imam's sons, Mourad Benchellali, was previously arrested by US forces in Afghanistan and is being held at the US military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Around 10 people, mostly of Algerian origin, are already in detention as part of the Chechnya-related investigation launched by French magistrates in December 2002. Among the 10 is another of Chellali Benchellali's sons, Menad.
Šaltinis: english.aljazeera.net
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.

Facebook Comments

New comment


Captcha

Associated articles

The most popular articles

Polish troops find sarin warheads in Iraq

Polish troops have found two warheads in Iraq believed to contain a deadly nerve agent more »

The Birthday‘s Conference of the International Centre of Knowledge

International Centre of Knowledge Economy & Management of Vilnius University celebrated its first anniversary on 22 of June in a modern conference room of the trade center “Europa“.  Center partners, guests from different business and state institutions, and eventual chiefs of the future proved an all known truth – knowledge, information and proficiency to use them rule the XXI century.  

more »

The 10th anniversary

This week in Bonn, Germany, the United Nations is observing the 10th anniversary of its international campaign to fight desertification more »

Bush Hoping to Repair U.S.-EU Relations

US President George Bush was due to hold talks in Ireland today in a bid to repair relations between Washington and the EU more »

Human Rights Court Rules Against Poland

Poland must compensate citizens for property their families lost when the country's eastern borders shifted westward after World War II more »

Three from Latvia die in Ireland accident

Three men from Latvia died June 19 when their car was involved in an apparent one-vehicle accident more »

The Overnight Raids

Chechen Rebels Raid Ingushetia; Minister Among Dead more »

Berlusconi alleges election fraud

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has accused the left of fraud in June's elections more »

ATMIA conference in Vilnius

The first ATMIA conference in Eastern and Central Europe will be handled in Vilnius on the 9-10 of September, 2004. More >>>

more »

Latest results from the European elections

Austria's extreme right Freedom Party is believed to have suffered a large drop in support more »