Al Jazeera journalist arrested on terror charges
01 August 2003
Tayseer Alouny, a Syrian-born Spanish citizen (he holds Spanish and Syrian nationality) and Al Jazeera journalist, was arrested in his home in Alfacar (near Granada) on 5 September 2003 on orders from Audiencia Nacional judge Baltasar Garzon. The International Federation of Journalists considered the arrest "unacceptable", alleging a lack of evidence against him.
After spending five days in pre-emptive custody (the maximum allowed under Spanish law) Garzon remanded him in custody in Soto del Real high-security prison to the north of Madrid on charges of: membership of Al Qaida, of having financed an Al Qaida cell, and of acting as a courier for Al Qaida. In particular, he is accused in relation to his contacts with Imad Eddin Bakarak Yarkas, aka Abu Dahdah, the suspected leader of a Spanish-based Al Qaida sleeper cell. The arrest order states that "sufficient elements and evidence exist to state that Tayseer Alouni was integrated in Abu Dahdah’s group and linked to most of its members beyond his condition as a journalist". Meetings with members of this suspected cell, described by investigators as efforts to organise financial support, backing for members and recruitment of new militants for Al Qaida, were said by the journalist to be gatherings of friends in which political and religious issues were discussed. When he was asked about payments made in 1995 when he travelled to Afghanistan and Turkey, Alouny said he had given some money to compatriots abroad, but did so in "solidarity" with Syrian exiles and as a wedding present, in another case. Alouny’s wife expressed concern over the arrest due to her husbands poor heart condition, adding that he is kept "incommunicado".
On 18 September five more Al Qaida suspects were detained on orders issued by Baltasar Garzon, four of whom are suspected of helping to finance the cell and of links to Tayseer Alouny. Garzon has begun proceedings against 35 people, including Osama Bin Laden, 11 have been arrested of whom 3 are in prison in Spain.
In a letter to the Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar, Al Jazeera’s directors and staff asked for "our comrade Tayseer Alouny to be freed immediately". The letter goes on to state that Alouny "had not done anything wrong apart from sending impressive and first-rate reports from Afghanistan, one of the worlds most difficult and dangerous places". Describing the charges against Alouny as "verging on the absurd", the letter explained that "a journalist, and particularly a correspondent, usually establishes contacts with several sources", and that "On several occasions, western journalists have held secret meetings with clandestine organisations without ever being prosecuted for carrying out their work." Alouny, the Al Jazeera correspondent in Kabul during the war in Afghanistan, interviewed Bin Laden after the 11 September 2001 attack on the US, and he also covered the development of military operations in Iraq for the Qatar-based television company. In both instances (in Kabul and Baghdad) the offices of Al Jazeera were bombed by the armed forces.
Al jazeera 9.9.03; El Pais 6, 7, 12, 13, 19, 21.9.03