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| Arabia |
| Al-Jazeera goes to bat for Alouni |
| 2005-09-30 |
| The Qatar-based satellite TV channel Al Jazeera has vowed to appeal against the seven-year jail sentence given to its journalist Taysir Allouni by a Spanish court on Monday. Allouni was found guilty of "collaboration with a terrorist organisation". News editor Ahmad al-Shaikh has condemned his sentence, calling it "a black day in the history of Spanish justice" and a "dangerous" and "unprecedented action" in the history of journalism. Allouni, a father of five who is Syrian but has Spanish citizenship, became famous as Al Jazeera's correspondent in Kabul during the US-led invasion of Afghanistan. He also interviewed Osama bin Laden after the September 11 attacks in 2001. He was first arrested in September 2003 in the southern Spanish city of Granada, where he was living, as part of an investigation into militant activities in Spain. He was then re-arrested in November last year, as the authorities believed he might try to leave the country, and was held in isolation in a prison near Madrid. Last month he was released on medical grounds and put under house arrest, as he is suffering heart and back problems. The channel urged that he be released on bail for health reasons pending an appeal hearing, and said it stands by him. "We still believe that our colleague Taysir is innocent of the charges against him," a statement issued by the channel said. "It is a verdict that is based on circumstantial evidence at best. This verdict is a big shock for us. We are convinced of Taysir's innocence." A spokesman from the Arab Human Rights Committee, Haitham Manna, says that though rights observers had warned them to expect a sentence, he was amazed Allouni was given more than two years. "He [the chief judge] was forced to fabricate a sentence to save the face of Spanish judicial and political forces in this country," he said. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |