German city appeals lifted entry ban on ex-Guantánamo inmate Slahi

The German city of Duisburg has appealed a decision by a German court to lift a decades-old entry ban for former Guantánamo detainee Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a court spokeswoman told dpa on Friday.

Slahi, who was born in Mauritania and detained by the United States at the Guantánamo Bay camp for 14 years over terrorism accusations, studied electrical engineering in Germany until 1995.

He was ordered by the western German city of Duisburg to leave the country in 2000 after being convicted of social security fraud.

He returned to Mauritania where he was detained and brought to Jordan by the US in 2002, on suspicion of being involved with al-Qaeda amid the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. According to Amnesty International, Slahi says he cut all ties to the group in 1992.

He was later transferred to Afghanistan and then to Guantánamo where he was severely abused and tortured between 2002 and 2016, according to his 2015 memoir "Guantánamo Diary," published while he was still held without charge.

In 2023, a German administrative court ruled that Slahi's 20-year-long entry ban should be lifted.

Following appeal by the city of Duisburg, the Higher Administrative Court of the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia upheld the ruling on February 2, noting that Slahi has since obtained Dutch citizenship, making him an EU citizen.

The spokeswoman said the city has since also appealed the higher court's ruling, citing legal errors, meaning the case will now be dealt with by the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig.