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| Europe |
| French Trial Watches Bomb Plot Surveillance Tape |
| 2004-10-09 |
| A Paris court watched on Friday a surveillance video shot by Islamic militants plotting to bomb a Strasbourg market, in which a commentator brands the French city a modern-day Babylon whose residents would go to hell. Ten men, mainly of Algerian origin, are on trial in the main Paris criminal court charged with associating with criminals engaged in a terrorist enterprise. They face up to 10 years in prison if convicted. The trial is due to run until December. The 20-minute tape shows road entry points to the eastern French city, the area surrounding its historic cathedral, the Christmas market and a local square. Seized by German police in a December 2000 raid on an address in Frankfurt, the tape is one of the key pieces of evidence the prosecution says proves the existence of the plot. "Now we are passing the Franco-German border, thanks to the Lord our God. Here is the French Babylon," comments a voice off camera as the surveillance team enter Strasbourg. The expression is used by Islamist militants to refer to sinful debauchery. The surveillance video showed stalls from the city's popular Christmas market, which draws hundreds of thousands of local people each year. "Here is the cathedral of the enemies of God. Here are the enemies of God hanging around," the commentary says. The scene switches to a children's fairground ride and a large Christmas tree outside a department store. "Here are the enemies of God. You will go to hell, if God so wishes it," the commentary adds. The film ends with the exit route back to Frankfurt accompanied by Islamic propaganda songs. "The people of Islam are rising up and arming us so that we may fight infamy and the infection of non-belief ... We are the soldiers of God and we do not fear death," says one of the songs. The prosecution alleges the voice is that of Hicham el Haddad, convicted by a German court in 2003 for his part in the Strasbourg bomb conspiracy along with three others. The trial resumes on Wednesday with the cross examination by the presiding judge of Mohammed Bensakhria, 37, an Algerian accused of helping to mastermind the plot with aides to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #1 Has this tape been broadcast on French and German TV. Don't the enemies of Allah have a right to know? |
| Posted by: ed 2004-10-09 10:43:05 AM |