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| Europe |
| Spain arrests Al-Jazeera reporter |
| 2003-09-05 |
| Via comments at LGF: Police have arrested a correspondent for Al-Jazeera TV at his home in southern Spain accusing him of having links to the al Qaeda terrorist group. Authorities believe that Tayseer Allouni — who interviewed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden nearly two years ago — provided support for two suspected members of the group. The arrest warrant was issued by Judge Baltasar Garzon, who has been leading the investigation in Spain into alleged members of al Qaeda and other militant Islamic groups. The warrant accuses Allouni of having links to "important members" of al Qaeda and using his status as a journalist to get an interview with Osama bin Laden in October 2001, Hamed Layasi said in an telephone interview from her home in Granada, where the arrest took place. Authorities believe Allouni provided support for Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, alias Abu Dahdah, who was arrested on November 13, 2001, and is thought to have been an al Qaeda ringleader in Spain. Allouni is also suspected of providing aid to Mohamed Bahiah, alias Abu Kalhed, a suspected al Qaeda fugitive thought to be in Afghanistan. "A group of police came with a judicial order at noon today and searched the home," for about three hours while Allouni was present, before taking him away, his wife Hamed Layasi said. Asked if the charges were true, Layasi said, "Surely it is not so." "Nope, nope, lies, lies, etcetera..." She said she would soon hire a lawyer to defend her husband. "Got any good names?" Hamed Layasi said the warrant says that Allouni "took advantage of his status as a journalist to get an interview on October 7, 2001 with Osama bin Laden, where bin Laden called for a holy war." While ducking a daisy cutter... Police took several books and newspapers in Arabic and two computers — one belonging to Allouni’s son and the other belonging to a production company that Hamed Layasi identified as Andalusia Directo, which she said provides programming to Al-Jazeera. Since the September 11 attacks, Al-Jazeera has aired numerous video and audio recordings purported by have been made by bin Laden. Several dozen suspected Islamic terrorists have been detained in Spain since the September 11, 2001 attacks, and some have been linked to that attack. Others have been released on bail or for lack of evidence. No one has gone to trial. Here’s hoping for a first... |
| Posted by:seafarious |
| #5 Go back and check the instapundit article again. He's added an update, with the comment "So now we know where Raed is." |
| Posted by: Phil Fraering 2003-9-5 4:38:37 PM |
| #4 Okay, be honest....was anyone but NBC, CBS and CNN surprised by this... We could have solved a lot of middle eastern diplomacy by a "surgical" strike...."Oh Geez, we're sorry, that was your news room..I thought it was in Tora Bora.........." |
| Posted by: SOG475 2003-9-5 4:28:44 PM |
| #3 I always figured al-Jazeera was the semi-official media wing for al-Qaeda Inc. |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-9-5 1:45:23 PM |
| #2 'salright, Bulldog. By the time I posted, LGF and Instapundit had it linked and now I see it's a banner headline on Yahoo homepage. Happy Friday! |
| Posted by: seafarious 2003-9-5 1:26:08 PM |
| #1 Oops, trifle tardy today. Duplicated your post. Apologies, seafarious. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2003-9-5 12:55:57 PM |