Officials said Friday Italian
police have arrested Algerian human rights activist and lawyer
Rachid Mesli at the Swiss-Italy border on an international
warrant from Algeria.
Mesli, who lives in Geneva, is wanted in Algeria on
terrorism charges.
He was arrested last Wednesday at the Great St. Bernard
Pass connecting Switzerland to Italy's northern Aosta region
while driving into Italy with his wife and one child.
Mesli, who has defended Islamist torture victims, has been
living as a refugee in Switzerland since 2000 after being
arrested in his home country on charges of "abetting terrorism",
according to Amnesty International human rights NGO.
He was detained and tortured for three years, according to
Amnesty.
In 2004 he co-founded Alkarama (Arabic for Dignity), a
Swiss-based human rights NGO assisting all those subjected to,
or at risk of, extrajudicial killings, disappearances, torture,
and arbitrary detention in the Arab world.
A Turin court of appeals will have to decide whether or not
to extradite him.
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