Spain's Top Qaeda Suspect Condemns Sept. 11 Attacks
Tue Apr 26, 2005 01:38 PM ET
By Daniel Trotta
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.j...5&pageNumber=0
MADRID (Reuters) - The suspected leader of al Qaeda in Spain condemned the Sept. 11 attacks, the Madrid train bombings and all acts of terrorism at his trial Tuesday, calling them a violation of Islam.
Syrian-born Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas is the prime suspect in the trial of 24 men accused of belonging to al Qaeda and is one of three charged with mass murder over the attacks on New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001.
"I deny it (terrorism) and I vigorously reject it in front of the whole world. ... I am not saying it to defend myself or anything. I say it because I feel it," said Barakat Yarkas, accused of recruiting and indoctrinating international militants.
"I was never happy about it (Sept. 11). ... They were completely wrong because Islam does not allow it," he said.
Spain was hit by its own Islamist militant attack with the Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people on March 11, 2004.
"I had nothing to do with that if there are any doubts," said Barakat Yarkas, also known as Abu Dahdah, who was in jail at the time and has been since November 2001.
Earlier Tuesday and Monday, Barakat Yarkas denied being a follower of Osama bin Laden and denied providing aid to hijacker Mohamed Atta during his visit to Spain in July 2001, two months before Atta is believed to have piloted one of the planes into the World Trade Center.
Prosecutor Pedro Rubira spent two days pressuring Barakat Yarkas about a series of relationships he had with some of Europe's most wanted suspected Islamist militants.
Barakat Yarkas explained most of those as business relationships, innocent friendships or casual acquaintances made through the mosque.
WIRETAPPED CONVERSATION
Barakat Yarkas, dressed in a navy sport coat with an open collar, appeared relaxed and smiling through much of his time on the stand.
However his voice rose and he stumbled over his words slightly Monday when pressed about a wire-tapped phone conversation on August 27, 2001, that he had with another prime Sept. 11 suspect held in Britain, Farid Hilali.
In that conversation Hilali referred to aviation training, said "they are giving very good classes" and said "they have chopped off the head of the bird" -- which investigators interpret as a reference to the coming Sept. 11 attacks.
"I told you and I told the police from the start, let me listen to the complete conversation to explain it correctly because this call has absolutely nothing to do with what you say," Barakat Yarkas told the court. Spain wants to extradite Moroccan-born Hilali from Britain where he is being held on charges of illegal immigration.
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