PARIS, July 27 (AFP) - Of the seven French detainees at Guantanamo Bay, four have now been transferred to France and three remain. Here are details on the men.
The four transferred:
- Mourad Benchellali, aged 23, born in the Lyon suburb of Venissieux. Friends say he left France for Pakistan in the summer of 2001 to study the Koran. His elder brother Menad, and his father Chellali -- imam of a Venissieux prayer-room -- are in detention as part of a separate investigation into Islamist networks.
- Nizar Sassi, aged 24, a friend of Benchellali also born in Venissieux. He worked as a security guard before leaving France with Benchellali in 2001. Police believe the pair were supplied with false passports by Menad Benchellali.
- Imad Kanouni, aged 26, of Moroccan origin. He has no criminal record and was unknown to police before being identified at Guantanamo Bay.
- Brahim Yadel, aged 33, born in Aubervilliers in the northern Paris suburbs. In December 2000 he was convicted in his absence and given a year in jail for being part of a group accused of plotting an attack during the 1998 World Cup in France. He was suspected of collecting funds for the Algerian Islamist organisation the Armed Islamic Group (GIA).
The three who remain:
`- Mustaq Ali Patel. Born in India around 40 years ago (his age is unclear), he married a French woman from the island of La Reunion and took her nationality. In the early 1990s he left La Reunion for Afghanistan.
- Khaled Ben Mustafa, aged 32, born in Lyon. He trained as a salesman and lived for some 15 years in the Paris region before leaving France in the summer of 2001.
- Ridouane Khalid, aged 36, born at Villecomble in the northern Paris suburbs. His brother Zineddine Khalid was arrested in connection with the alleged attack plot during the World Cup. Ridouane was questioned in the affair.
According to French judicial sources, some of the men spent time in London where they were recruited to join the armed camps in Afghanistan.