Sami bin Khamis bin Salih Essid () a.k.a. Essid Sami Ben Khemais was the head of

al-Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

cell until his arrest outside

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

in April 2001. He received a five-year sentence for trafficking in arms, explosives, and chemicals.The Second Time Around
''Time'', 25 February 2002; with a photo of Essid. Essid remains under embargo by the

United Nations Security Council Committee 1267 The ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee is a committee of the United Nations Security Council tasked with implementing international sanctions against the Islamic State and al-Qaeda. It was established as the Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanct ...

UN list of affiliates of al-Qaeda and the Taliban
(see Sami ben Khamis ben Saleh Elsseid) as an affiliate of al-Qaeda, and by the

US Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current U.S. government departments. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and ...

U.S. Blocks Assets of 10 More Terrorism Financiers
U.S. Department of the Treasury, 19 April 2002 for his terrorist activity. Around 1 July 2007, fresh charges against Sami Essid were read in Italy, where he was still in custody.Reuters report
of arrests of GSPC members, 7 July 2007 According to the UN he was born on 10 February 1968 in Menzel Jemil,

Bizerte Governorate Bizerte Governorate ( ' ; ) is the northernmost of the 24 governorates of Tunisia. It is in northern Tunisia, approximately rectangular and having a long north coast. It covers an area of 3,750 km2 including two large lakes, one coastal hen ...

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

. He phoned a

cell phone A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones ( landline phones). This radio ...

held by Saber Mohammed - believed to have been acting as a messenger for Mosa Zi Zemmori and Driss Elatellah.

Arab News ''Arab News'' is an English-language daily newspaper published in Saudi Arabia. It is published from Riyadh. The target audiences of the paper, which is published in broadsheet format, are businesspeople, executives and diplomats. At least as ...

Suspect admits being al-Qaeda link in Belgium
September 15, 2004

Guantanamo connection

Following the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

ruling in

Rasul v. Bush ''Rasul v. Bush'', 542 U.S. 466 (2004), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court in which the Court held that foreign nationals held in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp could petition federal courts for writs of ''habeas corp ...

, the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and superv ...

was forced to conduct reviews of the combatant status of the captives held in

extrajudicial Extrajudicial punishment is a punishment for an alleged crime or offense which is carried out without legal process or supervision by a court or tribunal through a legal proceeding. Politically motivated Extrajudicial punishment is often a fe ...

detention in its

Guantanamo Bay detainment camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp, also known as GTMO ( ), GITMO ( ), or simply Guantanamo Bay, is a United States military prison within Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (NSGB), on the coast of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. It was established in 2002 by p ...

s, in

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

. The allegations that Guantanamo counter-terror analysts offered to justify the detention of several of these captives assert that they had an association with Sami Essid, or the Sami Essid Network.Summary of Evidence (.pdf)
prepared for Adil Mabrouk Bin Hamida's ''

Combatant Status Review Tribunal The Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRT) were a set of tribunals for confirming whether detainees held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp had been correctly designated as " enemy combatants". The CSRTs were establi ...

'' - October 8, 2004 - page 176 Summarized transcripts (.pdf) from Adil Mabrouk Bin Hamida's ''

'' - pages 48-58 Summarized transcript (.pdf) from

Lufti Bin Ali Lotfi Bin Ali (1965 – 9 March 2021), also known as Abdullah Bin Ali al-Lutfi, was a Tunisian whom the United States held in extrajudicial detention for over thirteen years in the Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. He was one of five m ...

's ''

Administrative Review Board The Administrative Review Board is a United States military body that conducts an annual review of the detainees held by the United States in Camp Delta at the United States Navy base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The purpose o ...

hearing'' - page 64

Factors for and against the continued detention (.pdf) Factor (Latin, ) may refer to: Commerce * Factor (agent), a person who acts for, notably a mercantile and colonial agent * Factor (Scotland), a person or firm managing a Scottish estate * Factors of production, such a factor is a resource used ...

of Ridah Bin Saleh Al Yazidi ''

'', May 4, 2005 - pages 51-53

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Essid, Sami 1968 births Living people Tunisian al-Qaeda members People designated by the Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee Islamic terrorism in Italy People from Bizerte Governorate