| Indicted
in 2006 Nizar Trabelsi Wins Trial
in DDC Then ICE Detained Now Back
in Belgium
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
DDC COURTHOUSE,
Oct 22 – Nizar
Trabelsi was
indicted in
2006 for being
a member of Al
Qaeda who
conspired to
kill Americans
overseas.
On
March 30,
2023, brought
into court by
two US
Marshals,
Trebelsi
appeared
before U.S.
District Court
for the
District of
Columbia Judge
Randolph D.
Moss. Inner
City Press was
there, the
only civilian
in DDC
Courtroom
8.
Jump
cut to June 6,
2023 - now the
jury trial is
underway in
Courtroom 8.
When Inner
City Press
went, it was
again the only
person in the
gallery. On a
video screen
a Belgian
official was arrogantly
answering
about
interrogations
in 2002, at first
saying he
didn't know if
Trebelsi had a
wife,
and that
describing her
"coming to see
her husband,
with a baby."
Trebelsi
passed a note
to his lawyer.
On July 14,
2023, Trabelsi
after his long
incarceration
was found not
guilty by the
jury.
In opening
statements,
mostly-SDNY
defense lawyer
Sabrina Shroff
said "We
all agree that
he was born in
Tunisia, he is
a good soccer
player, and he
is an
incessant
talker who
made statement
after
statement
after
statement to
Belgian
authorities. Most
of his
statements, if
not all, could
not be
objectively
corroborated." The
jury obviously
agreed.
All DOJ
would say was
Trabelsi will
be in the
custody of
U.S.
Immigration
and Customs
Enforcement
before being
sent back to
Belgium.
Seems like they
should say
more - after
all this time
in pre-trial
detention,
only to be
found not
guilty.
Docketed on
July 17,
2023: "Minute
Entry for
proceedings
held before
Judge Randolph
D. Moss:Status
Conference as
to NIZAR
TRABELSI held
on 7/17/2023.
ICE detainer
has been filed
and a copy
provided to
Northern Neck
Regional Jail.
Bond Status of
Defendant:
Release Order
Issued in this
case only."
Jump
cut more than
two years to
October 22,
2025, a
press release that
Trabelsi "has
finally been
flown home to
Belgium and
released to be
reunited with
his wife and
children. 'I
am so blessed
to finally
have my
freedom after
24 years,' he
said.
The
case has been
US v.
Trabelsi,
06-cr-89 (RBM)
***
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