PARIS, 7 January 2004 — French police detained eight suspected Islamic militants yesterday, including an imam and his wife and son, as part of an investigation into links between French nationals and Chechen separatists, officials said.
Anti-terrorist officers from the DST domestic security service swooped on the suspects in dawn raids in the Venissieux suburb of Lyon, in eastern France. Chellali Benchellali, the imam of Venissieux mosque, was detained along with his wife Hafsa and one of their sons, Hafed, and up to five others.
“(The arrests) will act as a brake on all these networks and this radical and political Islam which is doing so much harm in our suburbs,” Venissieux Mayor Andre Gerin, a communist, told reporters.
Another of the imam’s sons, Mourad Benchellali, was arrested by US forces in Afghanistan and is being held at the US military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Around 10 people, mostly of Algerian origin, are already in detention as part of the Chechnya-related investigation launched by French magistrates in December 2002. Among the 10 is another of Chellali Benchellali’s sons, Menad.
The 10 are accused of planning attacks on Russian interests in France, including the Russian embassy in Paris, to avenge the death of an Arab-born Chechen guerrilla leader killed by Russian troops.
