| Embassy of the United States in Sarajevo | |
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| Location | Sarajevo |
| Address | 1 Robert C. Frasure Street |
| Coordinates | 43°51′23.89″N18°24′1.5″E / 43.8566361°N 18.400417°E |
| Ambassador | Michael J. Murphy [1] |
The United States Department of State opened the United States Embassy in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, on July 4, 1994. [2] [3] Bosnia and Herzegovina had formerly been a part of Yugoslavia; the United States recognized the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina on April 7, 1992.
In the month following al-Qaeda's terrorist attacks on major American cities of New York City and Washington, D.C., on September 11, 2001, American intelligence analysts became concerned that Arab immigrants in Bosnia and Herzegovina planned to attack the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo. [4] [5]
In early October 2001, under pressure from the United States, six men of Algerian descent were arrested by the police of Bosnia and Herzegovina. [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] Bosnian officials said that American officials had assured them that they had evidence, including wiretaps, proving that the six men were in contact with an al-Qaeda leader in Afghanistan, but American officials did not provide that evidence.[ citation needed ]
From October 2001 to January 2002, the six men went through the Bosnian equivalent of habeas corpus. In January 2002, the case made its way to the Bosnian Supreme Court.[ citation needed ]
The six men continued to face allegations that they had participated in a plot to bomb the embassy at their 2004 Combatant Status Review Tribunals and at their annual Administrative Review Board hearings in 2005, 2006 and 2007. [7] [8] [9] [10] The men testified that their interrogators had never asked them about the plot, which led them to believe they recognized that there was no plot.[ citation needed ]
In 2008, after the Guantanamo captives had their access to habeas corpus in the US justice system restored, the United States Department of Justice acknowledged that there had never been any evidence of a bomb plot. [6]
On 28 October 2011, Mevlid Jašarević, a Wahhabi Islamist, fired on the embassy, and wounded a policeman. He was eventually shot and wounded by a Ministry of Interior sniper, was given medical treatment and taken into custody afterwards. [11] [12] He was later sentenced to 18 years in prison. [13]
Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al Qosi is a Sudanese militant and paymaster for al-Qaeda. Qosi was held from January 2002 in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number is 54.
Sabir Mahfouz Lahmar is a Bosnian citizen, who won his habeas corpus petition in United States federal court after being held for eight years and eight months in the military Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.
Fouzi Khalid Abdullah Al Odah is a Kuwaiti citizen formerly held in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. He had been detained without charge in Guantanamo Bay since 2002. He was a plaintiff in the ongoing case, Al Odah v. United States, which challenged his detention, along with that of fellow detainees. The case was widely acknowledged to be one of the most significant to be heard by the Supreme Court in the current term. The US Department of Defense reports that he was born in 1977, in Kuwait City, Kuwait.
The Algerian Six were six Algerian men, who gained citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Bosnian War, five of whom will continue to hold a dual Algerian and Bosnian citizenship, and who were imprisoned without charges at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002.
Mustafa Ait Idir is an individual formerly held in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. Ait Idir was born in Algeria, but moved to Bosnia, married a Bosnian woman, and became a Bosnian citizen. Idir was arrested on October 18, 2001, on suspicion of participating in a conspiracy to bomb the United States Embassy. After their release following their acquittal, the six men were captured on January 17, 2002, by American forces, who transferred them to Guantanamo Bay.
Bensayah Belkacem is a citizen of Bosnia, previously held in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. Born in Algeria, he was arrested in his home in Bosnia, on October 8, 2001, shortly after the attacks of September 11, 2001.
Hadj Boudella is a citizen of Bosnia who was wrongfully detained for over six years in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.
Mohammed Nechle is a Bosnian citizen who was wrongly held for almost seven years as an "enemy combatant" in the United States's Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.
Bashir Nashir Ali Al-Marwalah is a Yemeni, who was captured in Pakistan, on September 11, 2002, and transferred to extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number is 837. Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts reports that Al-Marwalah was born on December 1, 1979, in Al-Haymah, Yemen.
Polad Sabir Sirajov is a citizen of Azerbaijan formerly held in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.
Tariq Mahmud Ahmad Muhammad al-Sawah is a citizen of Egypt who was held in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba, from May 2002 to January 2016.
Lakhdar Boumediene is an Algerian-born citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina who was held in military custody in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps in Cuba beginning in January 2002. Boumediene was the lead plaintiff in Boumediene v. Bush (2008), a U.S. Supreme Court decision that Guantanamo detainees and other foreign nationals have the right to file writs of habeas corpus in U.S. federal courts.
Alija Behmen was a Bosnian politician who served as the 36th mayor of Sarajevo from 2009 to 2013. He also served as Prime Minister of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2001 to 2003. Behmen was a member of the Social Democratic Party.
Sufyian Ibn Muhammad Barhoumi is an Algerian man who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. The Department of Defense reports that he was born on July 28, 1973, in Algiers, Algeria.
Asim Thahit Abdullah Al Khalaqi (1968-2015) was a citizen of Yemen, who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camp, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number is 152. Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts estimate Al Khalaqi was born in 1968, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
There has been an increase in incidents involving alleged radical Islamism in the Balkans since the 1990s.
A gunman fired with a Kalashnikov rifle on the United States embassy in Sarajevo on 28 October 2011, resulting in one local policeman guarding the embassy being wounded in the arm by the gunman, while the shooter was wounded by a police sniper.
Victor Jackovich presented his credentials as American Ambassador on June 23, 1993; however, a physical American Embassy to Bosnia-Herzegovina was not established until November 10, 1993, on the premises of the American Embassy in Vienna, Austria. The American Embassy in Sarajevo was established on July 4, 1994, with Jackovich as ambassador.
Embassies are the main entries, while consulates-general are shown as sub-entries for each country. A full list can be found at List of diplomatic missions of the United States. | |||
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‡ Missions which are located in countries or cities that may be considered a part of more than one continent 1 Consulates-General which function as an embassy (ie. consul reports to State Department, not the respective country's ambassador) 2 The American Institute in Taiwan is ostensibly a public, non-profit organization to promote US-Taiwanese relations, but through State Department staffing & assistance, functions as an informal US diplomatic mission. | |||
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