Germany Slaps Re-Entry Ban on Bin Laden's Alleged Bodyguard Despite Court Ruling - Reports

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th August, 2018) The German authorities have issued a re-entry ban against Sami A., who is believed to be a former bodyguard of Osama bin Laden, the now dead leader of the Al Qaeda terror group (banned in Russia), and who was deported from Germany to Tunisia last month, even though the move contradicts a court ruling saying that the deportation was illegal, local media reported on Monday, citing sources in security circles.

According to the Kolner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper, the decision has driven the wedge even farther between a court in the city of Gelsenkirchen, which banned deportation over possible torture or abuse that Sami A. could face in the home country, and competent regional and Federal agencies.

The newspaper noted that Sami A., who is suspected of terrorism links in the home country but was quickly released from a Tunisian prison after two weeks in custody, where he was put upon his deportation, seems to be facing no threat of unlawful persecution.

Meanwhile, the city of Bochum, where the suspected bodyguard resided, is seeking to overturn the ruling.

Sami A. had been living in Bochum with his German wife and children since 1997, and the German authorities had been seeking to extradite him to Tunisia from as far back as 2006. Last year, a German court ruled that extradition was impossible because Sami. A would likely face torture in his homeland.

In April, media reports revealed that Sami A. was receiving over $1,000 per month in social benefits, despite the authorities having designated him as a security threat.

In June, the former bodyguard was detained by the authorities for deportation under a new court ruling. German media suggested that this happened because the most recent court order to halt the deportation had failed to reach the authorities in time.

Sami A. is reportedly not allowed to leave Tunisia until the suspicions against him are dropped.