Amine Mezbar (also known as Adel Tobbicchi)Chipello, Christopher J. ''

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''
Some Experts Believe Montreal Is Used As a Staging Area for Terror Networks
July 10, 2002) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

citizen who was arrested and wrongfully charged with terrorism, following an alleged plot conspiring to blow up the American embassy in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in June 2002. He was later found not guilty of the charge in a

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

court.

Life

Mezbar is alleged to have stolen several passports in 1997 and 1999 after his fingerprints were found on the scene. He lived in a

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

apartment with Jerome Courtailler and Mohammed Berkous, although the latter was arrested two days after the September 11 attacks. Mezbar came to Canada under the name "Adel Tobbichi", and earned

permanent resident Permanent residency is a person's legal resident status in a country or territory of which such person is not a citizen but where they have the right to reside on a permanent basis. This is usually for a permanent period; a person with such l ...

status in April 2000. He lived primarily in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, where he was allegedly forging passports and similar documentation to help militants cross European borders.

Arrest

In July 2002 he was arrested and extradited to face charges in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

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, Canada Extradited Bombing Plot Suspect; Held in Dutch Jail, July 19, 2002 He did not challenge his extradition, noting he had more faith in a European justice system than a Canadian one, as he had grown "disillusioned" after Canadian officials repeatedly interrogated him and accused him of terrorism. On 28 December 2002, Mezbar and his co-defendants,

Frenchman French people () are a nation primarily located in Western Europe that share a common French culture, history, and language, identified with the country of France. The French people, especially the native speakers of langues d'oïl from nort ...

Jerome Courtailler, Dutchman Saaid Ibrahim, and

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

n Abdelghani Rabia, were all found not guilty of terrorism by a Dutch court.Dutch court frees terror suspects
" ''

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''.

References

Living people Algerian emigrants to Canada People extradited from Canada People extradited to the Netherlands Algerian expatriates in the Netherlands Year of birth missing (living people) Canadian people of Algerian descent {{Canada-crime-bio-stub