GERMANY: A German court has convicted the "Zarqawi team" for their bomb plans in a trial known as the "al-Tawhid case"

Record ID: 859324

  • Title: GERMANY: A German court has convicted the "Zarqawi team" for their bomb plans in a trial known as the "al-Tawhid case"
  • Date: 26th October 2005
  • Summary: (BN10) DUESSELDORF, GERMANY (OCTOBER 26, 2005)(REUTERS) WIDE INTERIOR OF COURTROOM WITH ARRIVAL OF JUDGES WIDE OF PRESIDING JUDGE (IN THE MIDDLE IN THE PICTURE), THE CHAIRMAN OF DUESSELDORF HIGH COURT, OTTMAR BREIDLING THE MAIN ACCUSED, MOHAMED ABU DHEE FROM JORDAN WITH HIS HEAD WRAPPED IN A HEADSCARF, LEANING AGAINST THE BULLET-PROOF GLASS PULLOUT TO SHOW ACCUSED MOHAMED ABU DHEE TALKING TO HIS DEFENCE LAWYER ACCUSED PALESTINIAN ASHRAF AL DAGMA BEHIND BULLET-PROOF GLASS, PAN ONTO FILES CLOSE UP OF ACCUSED ISMAIL SHALABI FROM JORDAN BEHIND BULLET PROOF GLASS, PULLOUT TO SHOW HIM WIDE SURROUNDED BY POLICE CLOSE UP OF PHOTOGRAPHERS CLOSE UP OF ACCUSED DJAMEL MOUSTFA FROM ALGERIA, PULLOUT TO SHOW HIM BEHIND BULLET PROOF GLASS BETWEEN
  • Embargoed: 10th November 2005 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • City:
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAUPM87XAY3NRE1RBSI047PJHQ
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Four Arab men accused of planning to bomb Jewish targets in Germany on orders from militant Islamist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi were found guilty on Wednesday (October 26) at the end of a marathon trial, known as the "al-Tawhid case".
    "In this case, Abu Musad al-Zarqawi should also be sitting on the defendants' bench," Judge Ottmar Breidling told the court in his explanation of the verdict. The men received jail sentences of between five and eight years. Jordanians Mohammed Abu Dhess and Ismail Shalabi and Palestinian Ashraf Mohammad al-Dagma were found guilty of belonging to an Islamist militant group which planned attacks on two Jewish-owned Duesseldorf discos and a Berlin community centre. Algerian Djamel Moustfa had been charged with supporting the group and breaking Germany's weapons laws. Evidence in the trial, which started in February 2004, included wiretapped conversations in which Jordanian militant Zarqawi discussed with group members the state of preparations for the attacks, using codewords such as "honey" and "medicine" to refer to explosives.
    The case became known as the al-Tawhid trial after a group led by Zarqawi, who since last year has sworn allegiance to al Qaeda and is sought by the United States as the leading militant behind the insurgency in Iraq. "I swear to you, Sheikh, I swear that if you ordered me to die, I would do it," Dhess allegedly told Zarqawi in one of the intercepted conversations in October 2001. In their summing-up last month, prosecutors had demanded jail terms of up to eight years each for the men. Dhess, the alleged ringleader, told the court on Oct. 18 there had been no plan to attack Jewish targets. "I hate the Israeli system. But I don't hate the Jews as Jews," he said.
    The defendants were arrested in April 2002 along with a fifth man, Shadi Abdalla, who was convicted separately in 2003 but freed from jail after less than a year as a reward for agreeing to testify against his former associates. The prosecution case was based on 55 days of testimony from Abdalla, who briefly served as a bodyguard to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. He is now living in Germany under a new identity to protect him against reprisals.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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