Career
Wesam al Delaema came to Europe in 1993 and applied for asylum in Greece. This was refused and he was expelled. Late 1993 he applied for asylum in the Netherlands, not revealing his earlier attempt in Greece.
Granted asylum in the Netherlands in 2001, he was working as a hair dresser. Wesam al Delaema took part in an anti-American rally in Amsterdam where he burned his hand trying to set fire to a flag. During a 2003 trip, supposedly for a wedding, he made a movie called Warriers of Fallujah.
This film showed an insurgency group planting bombs boasting of planning on killing American soldiers. In the movie, al Delaema is seen handling a road-side bomb and assisting digging it in. Later, in his defense, Wesal al Delaema would say the movie was 'a journalistic portrait'.
In May 2005, Dutch police raided his house in Amersfoort. Prosecution was started but stopped when the USA asked for his extradition for conspiracy to use explosives against American Soldiers. On October 16, 2006 the court decided he could be extradited.
Wesam al Delaema appealed and the appellate court confirmed the district courts decision for extradition on December 19, 2006. Al Delaema was transferred to the USA on January 28, 2007. He was arraigned on January 29, 2007.
Al Delaema pled guilty in Federal Court in Washington D.C.on February 26, 2009 and was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment. Additionally, while al Delaema was incarcerated in the DC jail, he participated in the beating of a prison guard, kicking the guard until he was unconscious. Al Delaema also pled guilty to this additional charge and received a separate prison sentence.
Part of the extradition agreement was that al Delaema would serve his sentence in the Netherlands and that his sentence would be adapted to Dutch standards. A family friend, Khaten, however had stated that Delaema had joined the Mujehadin in Iraq
In 2010 he was brought back to the Netherlands, where the prosecutors office asked his sentence to be adapted to 16 years. On October 13, 2010 the court in Rotterdam however gave him a sentence of 8 years, citing the bad circumstances of his imprisonment in the USA. As al Delaema already had spent 5,5 years in jail, and the Dutch legal system has an automatic release after 2/3 of the sentence, al Deleama could walk out of the court a free man.
Dutch Newspaper 'De Telegraaf' published a picture of al Delaema leaving the court house, laughing and joking with his friends. His release has caused a stir in the USA. Justice department spokes woman Laura Sweeney said the conditions under which al Delaema was held 'were identical to those of other prisoners' and that in no way could these justify reduction of his sentence.