44 Europe and Central Asia Summary of Amnesty International’s Concerns in the Region, January – June 2007 adequate housing is not being fulfilled, or is threatened, for instance by an imminent prospect of eviction where alternative accommodation is not available. Individuals who have been designated as “priority cases” by these commissions, and who have not received, within a specified period, an offer of accommodation which meets their needs, will be entitled to appeal to the administrative court. However individuals who are not designated “priority cases” by the commissions will have no direct right of access to the courts in order to assert their right to adequate housing. Moreover, irregular migrants are specifically excluded from benefiting from the new provisions. The bill therefore fell short of creating a genuine right to housing for all residents of France, without discrimination or exception. The right to lodge an appeal in the administrative court in the event of a failure to provide adequate accommodation will come into force on 1 December 2008 for certain categories of the “most urgent” cases, and from 1 January 2012 for anyone in at-risk housing. Counter-terrorism On 22 May the Court of Appeal in Paris confirmed the verdict and increased the sentences imposed at first instance by the Criminal Court of Paris on members of the so-called “Chechen network”, accused of planning terrorist attacks in France in 2001 and 2002. One of the defendants, Said Arif, was originally arrested in Syria on 12 July 2003 and held in the Farah Falastin interrogation centre in Damascus. In April 2004 a French investigating judge, together with officers from the secret services, travelled to Syria to discuss the case of Said Arif with the Syrian authorities. Said Arif was eventually extradited to France on 17 June 2004. Allegedly the French officials did not participate actively in the interrogation of Said Arif, but were debriefed directly by their Syrian counterparts. During the trial in France the judge in the court of first instance stated that all evidence originating in Syria must be disregarded as “it is almost certain that Amnesty International the ‘confessions’ of Said Arif were obtained under torture”. Of the 27 defendants, 13 appealed against the sentence imposed at first instance. Said Arif’s sentence was increased by the Court of Appeal to 10 years’ imprisonment (an increase of one year); Hafsa Benchellali (the former wife of Chellali Benchellali, an Algerian imam expelled from France on 7 September 2006 after being convicted of criminal conspiracy) was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment. Hafsa Benchellali was also banned from remaining on French territory (“interdite de séjour”), and may therefore be at risk of deportation to Algeria upon completion of her custodial sentence. There are concerns that she may, if returned to Algeria, be subjected to torture or other ill-treatment. Trial of former Guantánamo detainees (update to AI Index: EUR 01/001/2007) Proceedings continued at the Criminal Court of Paris in the case against six French citizens previously detained in US military custody at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, before being returned to France in 2004. The defendants appeared before the court in July 2006 on terrorism-related charges. However, the case was suspended when the judge ordered additional information to be provided concerning the visits of officers from the French secret services and Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Guantánamo, where they allegedly interviewed the six detainees. Previously classified documents now in the judge��s possession confirm that the detainees were indeed interviewed by French officers. The defendants’ lawyers argue that their clients are appearing in the French court on the basis of testimony extracted from them in Guantánamo, outside legal jurisdiction and whilst illegally detained, and that, as a result, the French criminal proceedings must be declared void. The prosecution claims the visits of the French officers were purely for the purposes of “information”, not interrogation. The case against the six detainees is due to be reopened between 3 and 12 December at the Court of Appeal in Paris. AI Index: EUR 01/010/2007