SPAIN: A SPANISH JUDGE HAS ORDERED A JOURNALIST FROM AL JAZEERA TV NETWORK TO REMAIN IN JAIL ON CHARGES OF BELONGING TO AL QAEDA CELL IN SPAIN

Record ID: 646526

  • Title: SPAIN: A SPANISH JUDGE HAS ORDERED A JOURNALIST FROM AL JAZEERA TV NETWORK TO REMAIN IN JAIL ON CHARGES OF BELONGING TO AL QAEDA CELL IN SPAIN
  • Date: 11th September 2003
  • Summary: (W5) SOTO DEL REAL, SPAIN (FILE) (REUTERS) PAN PRISON EXTERIOR WHERE TAYSSER ALOUNI IS BEING HELD (2 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 26th September 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MADRID AND SOTO DEL REAL, SPAIN
  • Country: Spain
  • Topics: Crime,Communications,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA3ES0R454BHBQ11JAAKCKTJGZS
  • Story Text: A Spanish judge has ordered that an Al Jazeera
    journalist accused of belonging to an al Qaeda cell in
    Spain remain in jail without bail and stand trial.



    A Spanish judge on Thursday (September 11, 2003) ordered
    a journalist from the Arab television network Al Jazeera to
    remain in jail without bail and stand trial on charges of
    belonging to an al Qaeda cell in Spain.

    Tayseer Alouni, best known for interviewing Osama bin
    Laden shortly after the attacks in the United States on
    September 11, 2001, is accused of providing money and
    information to al Qaeda operatives and recruiting fighters
    for the group.

    The Syrian, who holds Spanish citizenship, was arrested
    at his home in southern Spain last week. He denies the
    charges. Alouni says he took money to Syrian exiles in
    Afghanistan and Turkey as a gesture of solidarity and
    denies the financial aid was for al Qaeda members.

    Alouni's arrest has drawn criticism from Arab human
    rights groups, journalists' organisations and his
    colleagues at Qatar-based Al Jazeera, who called the arrest
    an attack on press freedom.

    "If he was given information outside of his work, not
    as a journalist, the judiciary have the right to access the
    information, but any information he was given in his
    capacity as a journalist the judiciary does not have a
    right to," he said.

    "By law you cannot force a journalist to reveal his
    sources, and by Spain doing this they are breaking the law.

    Spain is taking an unorthodox position and by holding him
    under the terrorism act they are violating human rights,"he
    added.

    The order by Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon accuses
    Alouni of belonging to an al Qaeda cell in Spain run by
    Imad Eddim Barakat Yarkas, also known as Abu Dahdah, who is
    being held by Spanish authorities on suspicion of playing a
    role in the September 11 attacks.

    Alouni testified on Monday (September 8) and accepted
    he had invited people to his house who were later arrested
    on suspicion of belonging to al Qaeda or playing a role in
    the September 11 attacks. Prosecutors say Abu Dahdah was
    among them.

    Alouni's lawyer, Manuel Del Prado, said he would appeal
    to have the journalist released on bail before his trial,
    which might last up to four years. He said he did not know
    when the trial would start.

    Del Prado added that Alouni did not know any members of
    al Qaeda on a personal level although he had come into
    contact with members of the group while working as a
    journalist in Afghanistan.

    Spain, one of the staunchest supporters of the U.S.-led
    war in Iraq and its global campaign against terror, has
    made dozens of high-profile arrests of suspected militants
    since the September 11 attacks. Many of those accused of
    links with groups such as al Qaeda have since been
    released.
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