Former Guantanamo prisoner: Russian mafia kidnapped me, sold me to Marines

Algerian born Houari Abbar nicknamed Sofiane, a former Guantanamo prisoner said he was kidnapped and sold at $300,000 to the American Marines.

• How was your life before you had been detained?
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• I am not a terrorist neither a criminal. I was tortured. My native town in Oran (west of Algiers). I went to Russia to find a job. I was attracted by horses breeding after I had met my Russian wife. I had my own family: my wife and a daughter. I had friends from Georgia. I had no enemies because I am a peaceful man.
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• How and when were you arrested? Did you try come back home after the September 11th’s attacks? Did you feel chased in Russia?
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• Many Arab Muslims were jailed in Kabul and Pakistan but many others were sold to America like slaves. I was chased by a real mafia. It was in 2002. More than 60 people trapped me and a friend of mine Djamel Bouderaa. They surrounded us and checked our identities. They forced us to go to their car and brought us to a forest.
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• Do you think that the Russians informed the mafia about you? What happened to you after you had been kidnapped?
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• We were brought to a forest but I did not know the place. I thought they were thieves but when they starting negotiating with other people about a required price. The Russian mafia received $300,000 to give us to America.
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• You were kept in Russia. Did you appear in court there? Did your family heard about what happen to you? Did you have a lawyer?
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• It was too fast. We were not allowed to defend ourselves. I was brought on a US aircraft. We were treated as disgusting animals. I did not feel what was happening to me neither did I feel where I was going. I found myself in a prison in Kabul. At that time, I was told I posed a danger on America and its allies.
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• Were you with your friend Djamel. How was your situation in Afghanistan’s prison? Were you accused of terrorism? Were you tortured before you had been deported to Guantanamo?
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• My friend Djamel was transferred to a prison in northern Afghanistan. He stayed there for two years. Then, I heard that he was taken to Algeria and he made a confession under torture. I was jailed for a year in Afghanistan. Then, I found myself in a new prison: Guantanamo.
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• You were jailed in Guantanamo from 2002 to 2008. You knew many Arab Muslims. Did the Americans tell you something? Did you want to come back to Russia or Algeria?
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• I told the US intelligence I wanted to come back to Russia as my family and my money were there. But they told me the mafia took everything. I told them I wanted to see my wife and daughter. They told me the Russian mafia would kill me. Because of that, I preferred to come back to Algeria.
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• Are you under investigation here in Algeria?
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• I was released on November 9th in 2008. I came back home on a US aircraft. My family did not know when I would come back. Everything changed even me. They broke me in Guantanamo. Since I came back, I have been lost.