Judge says reporter member of Al Qaeda

By Mar Roman, Associated Press, 9/12/2003

MADRID -- A Spanish judge formally charged a top reporter for Al-Jazeera yesterday with being a member of Al Qaeda, saying he helped with "support, financing, and coordination" for the terrorist network.

Investigating Judge Baltasar Garzon charged Tayssir Alouni, 48, with membership in an armed group and ordered him held in the high-security Soto del Real prison near Madrid after a 72-hour extension of his arrest expired, the National Court said. Alouni was not present during the hearing.

"Removed from his work as a journalist but taking advantage of it, he carries out support, financing, and coordination, which are the characteristics of a qualified militant of the organization," Garzon's statement read.

A more detailed indictment will follow. In the Spanish legal system, investigating judges issue the indictments against defendants, who then face a full trial.

Alouni's wife, Fatima Zohra Hamed Layesi, burst into tears upon learning the news.

Alouni is a well-known war correspondent in the Mideast for the Qatar-based Arabic satellite television network. He was the Kabul correspondent for Al-Jazeera during the Afghanistan war and one of the only journalists allowed by the hard-line Taliban regime to operate from the areas in its control.

He was criticized by some for helping the station secure videotapes from Osama bin Laden in the months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Alouni fled the Afghan capital as it fell to Northern Alliance troops, and hours after he left the Al-Jazeera office was struck by US warplanes. The military said the strike was a mistake.

Some Western governments accuse Al-Jazeera of being too biased toward Islamic militants, but the network's standing among Arab viewers also has given it remarkable access to extremist groups. On Wednesday, the network showed exclusive footage it obtained of bin Laden -- the first new images of the terrorist leader in nearly two years.

Al-Jazeera reported yesterday that the US military detained one of its Baghdad correspondents, Atwar Bahjat, while covering explosions in Baghdad. The US military said an Al-Jazeera reporter was detained for breaking one of its "ground rules" for coverage, but did not elaborate.

Garzon has been leading the investigation in Spain into alleged members of Al Qaeda and other militant Islamic groups.

Alouni was arrested Sept. 5 in Alfacar, a southern town close to Granada. Garzon extended his detention Monday after quizzing the reporter for three hours, and the delay gave police more time to investigate paper and electronic documents seized when Alouni was arrested.

Police are investigating whether Alouni supported alleged members of an Al Qaeda cell in Spain, including Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, considered the cell's leader.

Barakat Yarkas and seven others were arrested Nov. 13, 2001, and were directly linked to "the preparation and carrying out" of the Sept. 11 attacks. They remain in custody.

Alouni was born in Syria but has had Spanish nationality for more than 16 years. He was arrested while looking into opening an Al-Jazeera office in Spain.

In Damascus, a group of Syrian journalists staged a sit-in outside the Spanish Embassy yesterday to protest Alouni's arrest, calling it "an aggression against journalistic rights and freedoms."

Al-Jazeera sent a letter this week to Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar of Spain, calling on him to release Alouni.

"On several occasions Western journalists met secretly with secret organizations and they were not subjected to any legal action because they were doing their job, so why is Alouni being excluded?" the letter said.

Before working for Al-Jazeera, Alouni worked at the Arab-language service of Efe, Spain's news agency.