Slimane Hadj Abderrahmane
Slimane Hadj Abderrahmane | |
|---|---|
| Born | 5 August 1973 Roskilde, Denmark |
| Died | 16 February 2013 |
| Occupation(s) | DJ, detainee |
| Known for | Detained at Guantanamo Bay; involvement in Syrian Civil War |
Slimane Hadj Abderrahmane (born 5 August 1973, died 16 February 2013) was a Danish national held without formal charges at the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention facility located in Cuba. He was assigned the Internment Serial Number 323. Originating from Roskilde, Denmark, with a Danish mother and an Algerian father, his family relocated to Algeria when he was eight years old. However, after one year, his mother returned to Denmark, leaving him in the care of his paternal grandmother.
By 1993, Abderrahmane had established residence in Randers, Denmark, where he worked as a DJ and became involved in a musical ensemble. He enrolled at Aarhus University but left before completing his education in 1998. Influenced by the radical teachings of the Grimhøj Mosque in Denmark—established by Algerian refugee Athme Meheri—he journeyed to Afghanistan during the late 1990s. In December 2001, he was apprehended near the Pakistan border and subsequently transferred to Guantanamo on 10 February 2002. He was returned to Denmark on 24 February 2004.
Abderrahmane stated that his purpose for seeking military instruction in Afghanistan was to join Muslim insurgents fighting in Chechnya. Although US authorities harbored security concerns about him, he was released reportedly due to political pressure from Denmark threatening to withdraw its military forces. After his release, he declared intentions to engage in combat in Chechnya but was later dissuaded by Danish security services. He believed that Denmark's participation in the Iraq occupation justified targeting its political leaders.
On 10 October 2007, Abderrahmane received a sentence of ten months imprisonment for theft involving passports and credit cards from his employer at a mail sorting facility, with unauthorized withdrawals exceeding 110,000 Danish kroner (approximately US$20,000). During the trial, he chose not to provide testimony or cooperate with authorities.
In 2013, it was reported that Abderrahmane had died while fighting against Bashar al-Assad’s regime during the Syrian Civil War, underscoring the global dimension of opposition forces in Syria. Nevertheless, on 25 August 2014, the High Court of Eastern Denmark declined to officially declare him deceased due to lack of conclusive evidence.