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Arbil, Iraq (AFP) Feb 10, 2011 A Kurdish man accused of being a top member of Al-Qaeda in Iraq will get a fair trial, Kurdistan's security agency insisted on Thursday, after Amnesty International raised concern over his 11-year detention. Walid Yunis Ahmed was arrested in February 2000 in Arbil, the capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, while he was travelling in a car that allegedly contained explosives. He is not expected to face trial until the middle of the year. "All relevant authorities in the Kurdistan region are working to ensure that Mr Ahmed has a fair and just trial," the Kurdistan Region Protection Agency, the region's main internal security agency, said in a letter to Amnesty. The letter, which was provided to AFP by regional presidency spokesman Karim Zibari, claims that Ahmed "was a leading member of Al-Qaeda in Iraq and a mentor for Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi," the former leader of the terror network who was killed in a 2006 US airstrike. "During his detention, he has continuously attempted to recruit inmates to join terrorist cells upon their release," it added. Ahmed was charged with "terrorist-related activity" in 2009 under a law passed by Kurdish lawmakers in 2006, six years after his arrest. The driver of the car in which Ahmed was travelling was released three months after the pair was detained. In the letter, the agency rejected claims it tortured Ahmed or any other detainees it was holding, or that it was using charges against him to justify his prolonged detention. The letter was sent in response to an Amnesty statement on February 4 calling for Ahmed to receive a fair trial. "We are concerned that the authorities are using the charges to justify his long detention without trial," the London-based watchdog's Middle East and North Africa programme director Malcolm Smart said at the time. "If so, this would be a serious violation of Iraq's obligations under international human rights law and Iraq's own constitution." Smart added that because Ahmed was charged so long after he was detained "raises both suspicion and concern that these charges have been fabricated."
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