Canadian aided Ressam bomb plot

Ahcène Zemiri, the former Montrealer who has turned up in U.S. detention in Guantanamo Bay, was a close friend of convicted bomb plotter Ahmed Ressam and helped him with his attempt to blow up Los Angeles International Airport, court documents say.

The Algerian-born Mr. Zemiri, 36, has been held at the U.S. military base since he was taken prisoner in Afghanistan on Dec. 15, 2001. News of his detention was revealed this week after his wife gave an interview to a website supporting the prisoners.

In court testimony, Mr. Ressam said Mr. Zemiri helped him in the bomb plot, giving him $3,500 and offering a video camera to carry as "camouflage." Mr. Ressam also said he asked Mr. Zemiri to find him a pistol, silencer and grenades.

"He was aware you were about to commit a terrorist act on United States soil, correct?" Mr. Ressam was asked in a U.S. court in 2001.

"Yes, he knew that I was going to America to carry out a job," Mr. Ressam replied.

Mr. Ressam, who had trained in an al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan, also replied in the affirmative when asked whether Mr. Zemiri had been involved in "jihad activities."

"Yes, he did. He did have a jihad."

Well before his capture, Mr. Zemiri had been an object of interest to anti-terrorist authorities.

According to French, U.S. and Canadian judicial documents, Mr. Zemiri was part of a group of Montrealers of North African origin, most of whom were later accused of terrorist activities.

His name came up in a 1999 probe in Montreal by two French judges who travelled to Canada to investigate people suspected of terrorist ties. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service questioned Algerian-born Montrealers about Mr. Zemiri in July, 2001.

Mr. Zemiri lived in Canada from 1994 until he and his wife went to Afghanistan in 2001, purportedly to help Afghan civilians. His application for refugee status was rejected in 1996, but a moratorium was placed on deportations to Algeria, starting in 1997.

Canadian sources said Mr. Zemiri was deemed a security risk while he lived in Canada - a suspicion that thwarted his attempts at residency.

Yet there appear to have been no attempts to arrest or remove him - likely so intelligence agents could track his movements and associations.

Mr. Zemiri appears as Hassan Zemiri or Hassan Zemmiri in some court documents. A Canadian intelligence source said "they are one and the same."

In his court testimony, Mr. Ressam said Mr. Zemiri was a close friend.

Mr. Ressam said his friend and other friends knew he was planning an operation in the United States but not the details.

He said he chose not to ask them to accompany him. He said Mr. Zemiri helped him plan a bank robbery.

Mr. Zemiri is not charged with any terrorism-related offences. However, judicial documents link him to several terror suspects, including:!

·Mr. Ressam, in custody in Seattle and facing up to 130 years in prison.!

·Said Atmani, sentenced to five years for being part of a Montreal cell that supplied identity papers for Islamic militants.

Mr. Zemiri was arrested in Niagara Falls with Mr. Atmani in 1998 as they carried stolen credit cards.!

·Samir Ait Mohamed, held in Vancouver and fighting a request for his extradition to the United States.

He is accused of plotting with Mr. Ressam to blow up a gasoline tanker truck at a busy Montreal street corner where the duo believed there were many Jews.

An intelligence source confirmed yesterday that Canadian agents spoke to Mr. Zemiri in Guantanamo Bay last year.

Mr. Zemiri arrived in Canada on Oct. 3, 1994.

He had flown to Montreal from Spain, where he had bought a French passport, he said in an affidavit submitted with his refugee-status claim.

Mr. Zemiri was fined $400 in 1998, after pleading guilty to using a fraudulent Quebec baptismal certificate to obtain a passport, the same method Mr. Ressam used to gain a new identity when he went underground.

Mr. Zemiri's wife, Karina, did not answer her phone last night. Earlier, she had refused interview requests from several TV stations.