 BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - A Lebanese man on trial for a failed train bombing in Germany last year testified Thursday that he and another suspect planted crude bombs to protest cartoons that ridiculed Islam's prophet Muhammad, but he denied any links to al-Qaida. Reports of the trial, carried by the state-run National News Agency, said Jihad Hamad told the court he and fellow suspect Youssef el-Hajdib, who is under arrest in Germany, bought gas canisters, fitted them with detonators, tested them and planted them on the trains.
| In a civilized country that would be enough to have him jugged for decades. Even in Y'urp he'd get his full ten years. We'll see what happens in Lebanon, but I'm not optimistic. |
He also said he was not a militant Muslim and had no links to Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida terror organization.
In addition to Hamad, three other suspects are standing trial in Beirut. Germany wants the men extradited, but there is no extradition treaty between the nations. Lebanon has decided to try the suspects and defer consideration of extradition.
Lebanese authorities had arrested the suspects on charges of allegedly planting crude bombs on two trains at the Cologne station on July 31, 2006. The bombs, found later in the day on trains at the Koblenz and Dortmund stations, failed to explode because of faulty detonators. German surveillance cameras are said to have filmed the suspects as they wheeled suitcases into the station.
The other three on trial in Beirut - Khaled Khair-Eddin el-Hajdib, Ayman Hawa and Khalil al-Boubou, all are Lebanese - denied involvement in the failed attack. El-Hajdib and Hawa said they knew Hamad from university. They both denied to the court any links to Al-Qaida or bin Laden or that they were militants, according to the agency.
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