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| North Africa |
| Three Soddies go on trial in Morocco... |
| 2002-12-09 |
| Three Saudi Arabians suspected of leading an al-Qaida plot to attack U.S. and British warships appeared in court on Monday along with seven alleged Moroccan accomplices. The trial initially opened on Oct. 28 but was quickly adjourned in response to a request by defense attorneys for additional time to prepare their cases. The trial reopened Monday morning under tight security. The Saudi defendants appeared with their Moroccan wives. Moroccan officials believe the three Saudis took orders from another Saudi in U.S. custody since November, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, also known as Mullah Billal. He is considered by U.S. authorities to be a chief of Persian Gulf operations for al-Qaida, the terrorist network headed by Osama bin Laden. 'Scuse me, but Morocco's not in the Persian Gulf, unless they moved it... The three Saudi defendants Hilal Jaber El-Assiri, Zouhair Hilal Tabiti and Abdellah Msafer El Ghamidi planned to sail a dinghy loaded with explosives from Morocco into the Strait of Gibraltar to attack the U.S. and British warships, prosecutors say. They were arrested in May. The Saudis are also accused of having planned to blow up a cafe in Marrakech, a major tourism city, and to attack tourist buses in the North African kingdom. Mighty nice of them to go to somebody else's country and try to blow people up. Guess it seemed a Saudi thing to do... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |