'Terrorists' led quiet lives

2005-04-22 12:43

Daniels Woolls

Madrid - They led quiet lives as immigrant businessmen or labourers, raising kids and blending into Spanish society. On Friday, they will go on trial as suspected members of an al-Qaeda cell charged with using their new homeland as a staging ground for the September 11 2001, attacks.

Twenty-four men - mostly Syrians and Moroccans - will sit on wooden benches in a cramped, bulletproof chamber at a makeshift courtroom as Spain becomes only the second country after Germany to try suspects in the al-Qaeda terrorist assault on the United States.

The trial culminates a lengthy inquiry by Baltasar Garzon, Spain's top anti-terrorism magistrate.

The lead defendant is Imad Yarkas, 42, a Syrian-born Spaniard with a wife and six children. Under the guise of being a small-time merchant importing used cars for resale, Yarkas is alleged to have overseen an al-Qaeda cell that provided logistical cover for September 11 plotters such as Mohamed Atta.

Two other suspects also are accused specifically of helping plan the attack. They are Moroccan Driss Chebli, 33, and September 11 co-ordinator Ramzi bin al-Shibh; and Syrian-born Ghasoub al-Abrash Ghalyoun, 39, who shot detailed video of the World Trade Centre and other landmarks in 1997.

9/11 link

The videotapes were eventually passed on to "operative members of al-Qaeda and would become the preliminary information on the attacks against the twin towers," Garzon wrote in a September 2003 indictment against the three men and 32 other suspects, including al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and fugitive Moroccan Amer Azizi.

Garzon has said his investigation showed Muslim militants leading discreet lives operated freely in Spain for years, allegedly recruiting men for terrorist training in Afghanistan, preaching holy war and laundering money for al-Qaeda operations.

The Spanish cell's alleged financial mastermind is Mohamed Ghaleb Kalaje Zouaydi, a father of five who Garzon said used real estate companies to funnel al-Qaeda money to other countries.

Under Spanish law, terrorism is classified as a crime that can be prosecuted here even if it is alleged to have been committed in another country. Garzon also argues he can go after al-Qaeda because the September 11 plot was hatched in part in Spain.

Yarkas' lawyer, Jacobo Teijelo, insists Spain lacks jurisdiction because proceedings are under way in the United States - against French citizen Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person indicted in America in the September 11 attacks. He has yet to go on trial.

Teijelo said Spanish prosecutors "have no solid evidence of anything" and he found it odd that if Yarkas and his alleged accomplices are in fact September 11 plotters, the United States hasn't sought their extradition.

Besides Yarkas and his two alleged accomplices, the defendants are charged with belonging to a terrorist organisation, weapons possession or other offences. - AP

- SAPA