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| Europe |
| Italy: Al-Qaeda linked terror suspects go on trial |
| 2009-10-30 |
| The trial of five Muslim terrorism suspects has began in the northern Italian city of Bologna. The suspects were arrested in 2007 by Italian anti-terrorism police in the cities of Ravenna and Imola in the Emilia-Romagna region. They have been charged with subversion aimed at committing acts of international terrorism and fraud. An unnamed sixth suspect who is on the run is being tried in absentia. The defendants are accused of plotting terrorist acts in Iraq and Afghanistan and recruiting other jihadist sympathisers to carry out the planned attacks, according to prosecutors. Following a three-year investigation, prosecutors issued police with six arrest warrants in August 2007. The five suspects were named as: Khalil Jarraya, head of a suspected jihadist-Salafite cell with links to Al-Qaeda; fellow Tunisians Hecmi Msaadi, Mohamed Chabchoub and Chedli Ben Bergaoui; and Moroccan national Mourad Mazi. Jarraya, known as 'the colonel' because he had fought on the side of Muslims during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war, is an illegal immigrant from the Tunisian city of Sfax. He was living on 'zakat' or alms given to him by pious Muslims who attended the mosque in the city of Faenza, where he lived with his family, according to investigators. Msaadi, aged 31 is a resident of Imola and according to investigators was at the time of his arrest poised to travel to Iraq. Chabchoub, 41, who like Jaraya is from Sfax, is married and has two daughters. An IT expert, he was allegedly in contact with other suspected terrorists via the Internet. Ben Bergaoui, aged 34 anni, a resident of Imola, was arrested at Bologna's train station as he was about to take a train to the northwestern port city of Genoa and board a ferry for Tunisia. Thirty-three-year-old Mazi, is also a resident of Imola. Several witnesses have already been heard, including the imam of Imola's mosque. The imam told the court on Wednesday that unauthorised funds had been gathered at the mosque to help the families of needy mosque goers. The trial has been adjourned until 20 January. The police investigation of the suspected cell began after police found a box full of documents in Arabic and jihadist CDs at a property in Imola, according to local press reports. The cell members are also accused of providing logistical and financial support to international terrorism although defence lawyers say the documents and CDs only indicate the suspects were interested in radical Islamic ideology. |
| Posted by:Fred |