Despite the decision by a Bosnian court to release them for lack of evidence of their involvement in any terrorist attacks, the six men were given to U.S. forces and taken to the American naval base at Guantánamo, Cuba. Both the U.S. and Bosnian authorities insisted that the six still represent "a credible threat."

The news that six men rounded up in Bosnia are among the 100 being kept in Guantánamo in chicken-wire cages--constantly shackled and handcuffed--is at odds with Washington's portrayal of the camp as a jail for "unlawful combatants" captured in Afghanistan. The U.S. government refused to classify the men as prisoners of war or guarantee they will be treated under provisions of the Geneva Convention.

On January 18, the day the accused men were transferred to custody of U.S. authorities, some 300 people--including family members, friends and other supporters--attempted to block the move by demonstrating in front of the jail in Sarajevo where the six had been held since October. One day earlier a Bosnian court had granted an order against the deportation of four of the men. The demonstrators were dispersed by police armed in riot gear.

Of the six, five are originally from Algiers, and one from Yemen. All are married to Bosnian women. Many of the protests against their deportation have been spearheaded by their wives.

The deportations were made possible when the Bosnian government decided to strip the five men of their Bosnian citizenship. This has generated wider outrage among the Muslim population. Many see these moves as part of the broader attacks on their rights and the growing U.S. intervention and control of Bosnian institutions.

Although the country has a government, the imperialist-backed United Nations administration effectively governs the territory, can overrule any institution, and even has the power to remove elected officials.

"The Americans wanted the Algerians and got them," said Vlado Adamovic, a Bosnian Supreme Court judge quoted in the Washington Post January 31. "As a citizen, all I can say is it was an extra-legal procedure," he added. The same article in the Post described the cover of a popular Bosnian magazine depicting the figure of Uncle Sam urinating on the country's constitution and the European Human Rights Convention.

Washington and other European powers have demanded the Bosnian government deport Muslims who came to Bosnia in the early 1990s to fight on the side of the Bosnian army against Serbian forces. The imperialists claim that hundreds of Islamic militants residing in Bosnia have turned the country into a springboard for terrorist activities.

So far at least 20 people have been arrested by Bosnian and NATO authorities, who have launched investigations of Islamic humanitarian organizations. Last October NATO troops raided the office of a charity supported by the Saudi government. The squad confiscated computer equipment and arrested two Bosnian employees. Some 104 Arab residents have had their citizenship revoked as part of the Bosnian government's "antiterrorist" policies, and even former military commanders who fought on Bosnia's side have faced deportation.

"What the previous government has been doing is something that we won't stand for," said the acting interior minister of Bosnia-Herzegovina, referring to the presence of immigrants. "We are going to correct that," he added.

Washington has praised the Bosnian government's moves against the Islamic groups. "We deeply appreciate their efforts both to protect our safety and to promote security in your country," said the U.S. ambassador in Bosnia.

The arrests have fueled criticism of what many see as the imperialists' double standard in relation to the capture of Bosnian Serb leaders accused of atrocities against Bosnian Muslims.

In response, Washington announced that it would "redouble" efforts to catch two Serbs indicted in 1995 for war crimes. Claiming that their renewed campaign to capture the two war criminals has nothing to do with the discontent generated by the arrests and deportations of Muslim citizens, the American embassy plastered the city of Sarajevo with posters offering up to $5 million for information about the two. Efforts by the imperialist rulers to "bring to justice" those they deem war criminals has been part of its justification for U.S. and NATO military intervention in the region.

Currently, there are approximately 21,000 NATO-led troops in Bosnia, including 3,100 U.S. soldiers. Under the guise of "keeping peace" in the region, the imperialist occupying forces have used their military presence to advance imperialism's goal of weakening and ultimately reversing the conquests of the 1940s workers and peasants revolution in Yugoslavia that overthrew capitalism.  
 
 
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