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| Europe |
| Swiss Accuse Group of Backing al-Qaida |
| 2004-08-25 |
| Swiss investigators have found evidence that suspected members of a group backing al-Qaida were supplying fake documents to enable collaborators to enter Switzerland and other European countries illegally, the supreme court said Tuesday. The Federal Tribunal said one suspect, whose name was not released, was found to have links to both an unidentified al-Qaida recruiter who sent volunteers to the terror group's training camps and another unidentified individual convicted of terrorism offenses in France. The support group also provided cell phone numbers to enable the network to make anonymous calls, the tribunal said. The court's disclosures came in a ruling that blocked the release of a citizen of Yemen who was among 10 suspects of the alleged terrorist group arrested in Switzerland between December and May. Although the court did not release any names, it disclosed details that investigators had previously refused to make public. The court ruling concerned a man who was arrested in a sweep last January. Prosecutors said he was a member of a group with ties to terrorists behind a series of bombings on foreigners' residential compounds in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in May 2003. Five of the 10 men arrested since December have since been released after courts concluded they posed no threat. But the court said of the individual at the center of Tuesday's ruling: "At this stage of the investigation, there is sufficient suspicion of guilt" to justify his continued detention. It also cited an "undeniable" risk that he would try to flee Switzerland, as well as fears of collusion with other suspects which could compromise future arrests and investigations in other countries, including Belgium. The Aug. 13 ruling, released Tuesday, said the man was born in 1970, but gave no further description. |
| Posted by:Fred |