Moroccan charged for bombings

2004-12-22 12:00

Madrid - A Spanish judge charged a Moroccan suspect with terrorism and mass killings for allegedly helping plan the March 11 Madrid train bombings, court officials said.

Hasan al Haski, 41, was charged with 191 counts of murder, 1 000 counts of attempted murder and belonging to a terrorist organisation, said a court official on condition of anonymity.

Al Haski, arrested in the Canary Islands last week, was jailed pending trial later on Tuesday, following further questioning by Spain's main anti-terrorism judge, Baltasar Garzon.

The charges came after hours of questioning at the National Court by Judge Juan del Olmo, who is leading the investigation into the attacks that killed 191 people.

Del Olmo said in his 29-page ruling that al Haski is a suspected prominent member of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, an Islamic organisation with alleged ties to al-Qaeda blamed for the Casablanca attacks of 2003 that killed 45 people, including 12 bombers.

Al Haski a 'prime suspect'

The judge said al Haski is suspected of helping prepare the Madrid bombings. Del Olmo added that, from information provided by a jailed member in Belgium of the Moroccan group, "al Haski knew that the Madrid attacks were going to happen, he was going to hide and he, himself, said it was his group who had carried them (the attacks) out."

Seventeen other suspects have been jailed on provisional charges of mass murder or terrorism in the case. The charges stop short of a formal indictment, but suggest the court has strong evidence to convict them.

Al Haski was arrested last Friday with other three Moroccans on the island of Lanzarote on suspicion of belonging to the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group. They are suspected of trying to set up a logistical base on Spain's Canary Islands, a popular holiday destination off the coast of northern Africa.

After questioning them all, Garzon also jailed Abdallah Mourib, 36, on charges of belonging to a terrorist group, but ordered the release of Ali Fahimi, 31, and Brahim Atia El Hammouchi, 40.

The four were arrested on Friday on the island of Lanzarote on suspicion of belonging to the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group. They are suspected of trying to set up a logistical base on Spain's Canary Islands, a popular holiday destination off the coast of northern Africa. Spanish police believe al Haski fled a crackdown on suspected members of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group earlier this year in France and Belgium.

Both Garzon and Del Olmo said al Haski shared an apartment with Mourib, an imam at the mosque in the Lanzarote town of Puerto del Carmen, and that the two may have trained together at camps run by extremists.

Authorities said al Haski was linked to the March 11 attacks by several suspects arrested in France and Belgium.

- SAPA