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| Terror Networks |
| German court questions suspected Palestinian terrorists |
| 2002-04-24 |
| Islamic hard boys suspected of planning a terrorist attack in Germany were questioned today by a judge at the country's highest criminal court, who will decide whether investigators have enough evidence to keep them in custody. Police raided apartments across Germany on Tuesday, arresting 11 members of a radical Palestinian group that prosecutors said were "on the brink of attacks," possibly on Israeli or US targets here, prosecutors said. The federal persecutor's office said in a statement that several of the suspects were to be questioned at the Federal Court of Justice today, but a decision on whether they could detained further wasn't expected before late evening. According to German law, suspects can only be detained for 24 hours before facing a judge who determines whether they can be held for the duration of the investigation. Prosecutors said the men belonged to a German cell of a radical Palestinian group called al-Tawhid and that they have long been under observation. They also are believed to have provided false travel documents, collected donations and helped Islamic fighters leave Afghanistan. Federal prosecutor Kay Nehm identified the spiritual leader of the loosely coordinated group as Abu Qatadah, a Muslim cleric suspected of links to al-Qaida. A Jordanian of Palestinian descent, Abu Qutadah was convicted in absentia in 2000 by a military court in Jordan on charges of conspiring to attack US and Israeli targets. British anti-terrorism experts said in February that Abu Qutadah had skipped. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |