RABAT - A Moroccan court on Monday granted bail to two former inmates of the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and adjourned the start of their trial on terrorism-related charges to July 4.
The two men, Mohamed Mazouz and Brahim Benchekroun, were among five people handed over to the Moroccan authorities by the United States on August 1 last year.
The other three, who are due to face terrorism-related charges in the same trial, were freed on bail last December. They are Abdallah Tabarak, Mohamed Ouzar and Redouane Chekkouri.
At Monday's hearing the Rabat criminal court said it was adjourning the trial at the request of the defence.
The five face charges of "support for a criminal group by transferring money to Moroccans to create a gang that threatens Morocco's interests", and assistance in forging passports.
"The investigation has shown no ties between the Guantanamo five and the Moroccan Islamic Combattant Group" (GICM), defence lawyer Mohamed Hilal told the court. The GICM is suspected of involvement in terrorist attacks which killed 45 people on May 16, 2003 in the northern Moroccan coastal town of Casablanca.
According to a Moroccan police report published in September last year, the suspects had undergone military training in Afghanistan, where they learned how to use arms and explosives.
The United States set up its detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, in a US base on Cuba, after the attacks of September 11, 2001.
Hundreds of people picked up in Afghanistan and other countries have been held their without trial or without access to any form of legal assistance.
The trial of the five returned to Morocco began on December 6.
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