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Tunisia court upholds terror conviction

TUNIS, Tunisia — An appeals court on Tuesday upheld the terrorism conviction of a Tunisian citizen once held at the U.S. prison at Guantánamo Bay, the man’s lawyer said. The man was not convicted of any alleged extremist activities in Afghanistan.Lotfi Lagha, 39, was sentenced by a Tunis criminal court in late October to three years in prison on charges of associating with a criminal group with the aim of harming or causing damage in this North African nation.

The court dismissed other counts, including allegations Lagha received military training in Afghanistan and that he fought with or recruited for that nation’s former Taliban regime.

Lagha has maintained his innocence, and his defense lawyer, Samir Ben Amor, argued the legal proceedings against him were flawed.

Ben Amor claimed his client was beaten after being returned home last June from more than five years of detention at the U.S. Navy base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Lagha has also alleged mistreatment while in U.S. custody.

Lagha traveled to Afghanistan in early 2001 from Italy, where he had settled three years earlier as an illegal immigrant and worked at an Islamic cultural center.

His lawyer has said Lagha was at Tora Bora at the height of the U.S.-led military campaign that ousted the Taliban regime. It remains unclear why he was there. Police in neighboring Pakistan detained Lagha in early 2002 along the border with Afghanistan.

In another case Tuesday, a Tunis court convicted two men on charges they participated in a terrorist enterprise and sentenced each to 10 years in prison, said Ben Amor, who also represents them.

Ahmed Souheil, 25, and Mongi Ouechtati, 22, were accused of aiding a militant group that was involved in deadly clashes with Tunisian security forces in late 2006 and early 2007.

They were accused of providing members of the group with manure used to make explosives, Ben Amor said. Both proclaimed their innocence, insisting they acted “in good faith.”

Such clashes are relatively rare in Tunisia, which is widely considered a haven of stability in North Africa.