Al-Jazeera star accused of terrorist links [Archive]

He219

09-15-2003, 11:54 AM

http://photo.worldnews.com/PhotoArchive//uploaded/uploaded-23831_large.jpghttp://english.aljazeera.net/NR/rdonlyres/0F251171-925D-4BAB-AD70-AE6D2B8DCA36/0/34B3F46BF29447B993DD64D90954B749.jpg

Al-Jazeera star accused of terrorist links
By Sebastian Rotella in Paris and Cristina Mateo-Yanguas in Madrid
September 13, 2003

Al-Jazeera, the Arabic satellite broadcaster, finds itself in conflict with a headline-making Spanish judge who has prosecuted terrorists, South American dictators and corrupt politicians, and has spoken out against the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The investigative magistrate Baltasar Garzon has formally accused an Al-Jazeera war correspondent, Taysir Alouni, a Syrian-born Spaniard, of terrorist activity, and ordered him held without bail on charges of financing, logistical support and recruitment for the al-Qaeda network.

Alouni won fame as a correspondent in Kabul, Afghanistan, for obtaining the first interview with and first videotaped message from Osama bin Laden after the September 11 attacks.

Alouni's arrest last week set off an outcry in the Arab world, and Thursday's decision raised the stakes in a case in which journalism, politics, religion and terrorism have converged.

On Thursday, Judge Garzon filed a 23-page order outlining Alouni's alleged participation in a Syrian-dominated al-Qaeda cell in Madrid suspected of having links to the cell in Hamburg, Germany, that was responsible for the September 11 attacks. Suspected members of the Madrid cell have been in jail pending trial for almost two years.

Sydney Morning Herald (http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/09/12/1063341769979.html)

Aljazeera slams reporter's arrest (http://english.aljazeera.net/Archive/News/GlobalNews/2003_9/Aljazeera+finds+reporter+arrest+strange.htm) and claims Journalism under attack (http://english.aljazeera.net/Special+Reports/Aljazeera+under+attack.htm).

rafaelcb

09-16-2003, 04:22 AM

Some more info on this topic. Translated from 'la razon' newspaper by Google:

The brother-in-law of the member of A the Yazira stopped by Garzón created the cell of A the Qaida in Spain

(Note the automatic translation of Ben Laden = Horseradish tree laden :lol: )

Alony is related with Zammar, "the bear", whose passport was found in house of "number 3" of Horseradish tree Laden. The wedding in Granada of a relative of the journalist served to celebrate a minisummit of the organization

The base of A the Qaida in Spain was created in 1996 after the war of Bosnia by the Syrian-German Mohamed Haydar Zammar, the lieutenant of Horseradish tree Laden that recruited and formed in Germany the call "cell of Hamburg", composed by the suicidal pilots of 11-S, according to data to which the REASON in contraterroristas sources has had access. Garzón has jailed two Syrians nationalized Spanish, Abu Dahdah and the journalist of A the Yazira, Taysir Aloni, related also to Zammar, under the accusation to direct and to belong, respectively, to the network of A the Qaida in Spain. Indeed, today the magistrate has predicted to process to the 20 lengthy in Spain by his presumed relation with A the Qaida and 11-S.

Mohamed Haydar Zammar

Pedro Arnuero - Madrid. -
The one of the main lines of investigation of the Spanish Police around the journalist of A Yazira, considered by respected Arab mass media like a "professional one", is its presumed relation with the call cell of Hamburg, that organized 11-S. The same sources consider that as much the Syria calls "of A the Andalus" of A the Qaida, directed presumably by Imad Eddin Barakat, alias Abu Dahdáh and whose cell supposedly the Yazira belonged the correspondent of A; like those of Germany directed by Zammar, that gave classes of Islam in the mosque To the Quds of Hamburg, they had direct bonding with the leader of the suicidal pilots of 11-S, Mohamed Atta, and the Syria industralist Mamoun Darkazanly, alias Abu Ilyas.
According to it has been able to know this newspaper in the same sources, the journalist of A the Yazira maintained commercial relations with the Syria industralist, Mamoun Darkazanly, alias Abu Ilyas, that traveled to Madrid and Granada to the wedding of their sister-in-law, before 11-S, tie financially to the cell of Hamburg and which the German authorities have blocked all their accounts by their presumed relation with A the Qaida. One of the brothers of the correspondent of the Arab television, stopped and jailed by Garzón, Emir Aloni, resided indeed in Hamburg (Germany). For that reason the judge asked during the interrogations the journalist if the such Emir to whom he called to Hamburg was Atta, the brain of the suicidal commando of 11-S, since its complete name is Mohamed Emir Atta. But the reporter of A the Yazira responded that he was his own brother.
Mohamed Haydar Zammar, 41 years, is known by the contraterroristas services with the sobrename of "the bear" by its great physical corpulencia and its weight near the 115 kilos, although in A the Qaida uses the nickname of Abdul Fattah. "the Bear" was the assumption connection of Abu Dahdah and the journalist of A the Yazira, Taysir Aloni, both Syria stopped by Garzón like people in charge of the sleeping cells in our country. The judge of the National Hearing ordered 11 of September the past the unconditional prison of Taysir Aloni, like excellent member "of A the Qaida in Spain", and to which she accuses to catch, to finance and to support the terrorist network of Horseradish tree Laden. The defense of Aloni interposed yesterday a resource against the arrest warrant dictated by the judge. Taysir Aloni, of 48 years, been born in Syria, is citizen Spanish from 1988, when it married with the ceutí of Moroccan origin Fátima Zohra Hamed Layesi, daughter of imam of the Independent City, Hamed Liazid.
Another one of the daughters of imam is married with the terrorist of A the Qaida, born in Syria but with German passport, Mohamed Haydar Zammar. Two months before 11-S, Zammar moved to Granada, where Alony resided, that was in Afghanistan and returned to Spain to marry with the Moroccan sister of the journalist. To this wedding, that the contraterroristas services of the U.S.A. and Spain consider like a minisummit of A the Qaida before 11-S, it accompanied to Zammar the Syria industralist Mamoun Darkazanli and were other Moroccan citizens, supposedly integral of islamistas groups of the Magreb. Peculiarly, in those dates several of the suicidal pilots of A the Qaida, headed by Mohamed Atta and Marwan to the Shehhi, and the financial coordinator of 11-S, the Ramzi Yemeni Horseradish tree to the Shibh, also was in our country from the 9 to the 17 of 2001 July, and they met in Madrid and Tarragona to complete the last details of the terrorist attacks on American ground.
The importance of Zammar in the structure of A the Qaida, before and after 11-S, is demonstrated when the troops of the U.S.A. found their passport German in Kabul, within the house of the military leader of Horseradish tree Laden and "number 3", the Egyptian Mohamed Atef, alias Abu Hafs. "the bear" went the sleeping man to whom Laden ordered to create the suicidal commandos of 11-S and cells in Spain and Morocco. Zammar, with the help of the cell of A the Qaida in Spain, recruited stops To the Qaida to the three Moroccan citizens accused in the U.S.A. and Germany to participate in 11-S, Zacarías Moussaqui, Mouir to the Motassadeq and Abdelghani Mzoudi.
"the bear" is lengthy at the moment in a jail near Damascus (Syria), after in the greater one of the Rabat secrets it gave to him to the U.S.A. in January of 2002. At the moment, it is "collaborating" with the FBI and other European and Arab contraterroristas police, passing information over the structure of Horseradish tree Laden in Europe. "the bear" went the one who chose the Syrians, like him, to form the Spanish cells and acted as direct link of A the Qaida with Abu Dahdah. The confessions of Zammar do not do more than to confirm than the Spanish sleeping cell knew information very precise on which it was going to happen 11-S. This would explain the trips to Spain before 11-S of the own Zammar, Mohamed Atta, executor of the attacks, and Ramzi Horseradish tree to the Shibh, the financial coordinator and brain of the operation, recently stopped in Pakistan.