” — which is an extremely restrictive form of solitary confinement often imposed on terrorism suspects.“He would like to speak to his wife, he’d like to speak to his children and he’d certainly like to speak to his counsel in Europe,” she said.
Shroff responded that “the government well knows” Trabelsi cannot be sent to Tunisia or any third country without Belgian approval, that the Belgian government has asked for Trabelsi to be returned to Europe, and that “Mr. Trabelsi has repeatedly indicated that he will tortured if he is sent back to Tunisia.”
“The amount of resources it takes to get somebody here through extradition is high,” she said. “The United States only seeks to extradite people when it’s confident it will achieve a conviction. I suspect the government was surprised by this result.” “His status as a non-U.S. citizen, with no ties to the U.S., would definitely go into that risk analysis,” he said.Trabelsi moved to Germany in 1989 to play soccer; he then lived in several places, including Afghanistan, before landing in Belgium in the summer of 2001. That September, two days after the World Trade Center attacks, he wasplanning a follow-on bombing in Europe at a base that houses both Belgian and American soldiers. He was later convicted by a Belgium court.