Ten suspects charged with membership in an al-Qaida cell that allegedly helped prepare the Sept. 11 attacks have been jailed to prevent them fleeing Spain ahead of their trial, court officials said Saturday. The 10, including Al-Jazeera reporter Tayssir Alouni, were arrested earlier this week and jailed Friday after being free on bail for more than a year. They were among 40 people, including Osama bin Laden, indicted by Judge Baltasar Garzon on charges of belonging or collaborating with al-Qaida. Eleven people, including the alleged leader of al-Qaida in Spain, Imad Yarkas, were already in jail while the rest, including most of the principal suspects, are at large.Garzon charged some of the 40 with actually helping prepare the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Garzon, who issued the first indictments in September 2003, argued that al-Qaida used Spain as a staging ground for the attacks so he had jurisdiction to seek prosecution. Along with Alouni, the other nine jailed Friday were Basam Dalati Salut, Sid Ahmed Boudjella, Ghasoub Al Abrash Ghayoun, Mohamed Khair El Saqqa, Abdalrahman Alarnot, Kamel Hadid Chaar, Jamal Hussein Hussein, Waheed and Ahmad Koshaji Kelani. National Court prosecutor Pedro Rubira urged the 10 to be sent to prison saying "the nearness of the trial increased the risk of flight from justice, especially given that the charges relate to a terrorist organization that has the means to prevent its militants appearing before court and being tried."
Court officials expect the trial to begin by the end of February. Lawyers for the 10 criticized the order saying their clients had had no intention of fleeing given that they had abided fully by their bail conditions and that they had lived and worked in Spain for years. "How am I going to run away?," the leading daily El Pais reported Alouni as having asked in the court. "If I flee I risk my entire journalistic career."