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| Europe |
| Spanish al-Qaeda member claims illegal visit |
| 2005-05-10 |
| An alleged al-Qaida militant testified Monday that Spanish police visited him in prison last year and hinted they would get him released in exchange for cooperation in their probe of a cell accused of helping prepare the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Such a visit by police would be illegal under Spanish law because only an investigating magistrate can interrogate a jailed suspect. The judge overseeing the trial ordered the prison visit log checked to see if the visit took place. A court clerk later read records from the investigating magistrate who originally interrogated the defendant, warning him that police would be visiting him in jail for more questioning. Abdulla Khayata Katan, a 29-year-old Spaniard of Syrian origin, is accused of belonging to a Spanish al-Qaida cell, but not of playing a role in the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. He is on trial with 23 other suspects, three of whom are accused of using Spain as a staging ground to help plot the Sept. 11 attacks. The others, including Katan, are charged with belonging to al-Qaida, weapons possession or other offenses. Katan was arrested in Jordan in February 2004 and handed over to Spanish authorities. He immediately underwent three days of questioning by investigative magistrate Baltasar Garzon. Katan testified Monday that, about a month later, while he was being held at Soto del Real prison outside Madrid, two Spanish policemen visited him and said they brought ``good news.'' He said he had asked if this meant being released. ``They said, 'Yes, yes,''' Katan told the court. The police officers questioned him in an office, rather than in the room where prisoners usually receive visits, and showed him photographs of other suspected Muslim militants, Katan said. He said he told the police that he knew them, even though he didn't, thinking it would help him get out of jail. ``I lied to them,'' Katan said. When it became clear Katan was going to stay in jail, he said he asked the police about their offer of help and all they did was give him a business card with the name and phone number of a lawyer. In testimony after Katan, Osama Darra, a Syrian-born gift shop owner, denied charges of going to Bosnia in 1995 for terrorism training on orders from the accused leader of the Spanish al-Qaida cell, Imad Yarkas. Darra said he went to Bosnia to help beleaguered Muslims and never made it to Zenica, where the alleged terrorism training camp was located. Darra also said alleged money transfers to Islamic militants in other countries were simply to settle debts from business deals. Jasem Mahboule, another Syrian-born defendant, told the court handwritten Arabic language documents with bomb-making instructions that were found in his home were not his and he could not have written them because he left school at age 12 and has limited education. ``What would I do with those?'' he asked in a combative tone. Mahboule also denied charges of going to the camp in Zenica, saying he had never been to Bosnia. Algerian suspect Sid Ahmed Boudjella admitted to living off petty theft but denied allegations he supplied stolen credit cards that Darra is said to have used fraudulently to raise money for the cell. The trial, in its third week, was to continue Tuesday. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |