Al Jazeera Spain Correspondent Sentenced to Prison

A Spanish court has sentenced al Jazeera correspondent Taysir Allouni to 7 years in prison after convicting him of collaborating with al Qaeda. Allouni was convicted along with 17 other men. Among them, a man identified by prosecutors as the leading al Qaeda figure in the country, Syrian Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, also known as Abu Dahdah. He was accused of organizing a meeting in northern Spain in July 2001 in which final preparations for the September 11 attacks are alleged to have been made. According to the prosecution, the meeting was attended by alleged 9-11 hijacker Mohamed Atta.

The prosecutions were brought by the famed Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon, famous for his indictment of Augusto Pinochet. He has been criticized widely by human rights groups for these current prosecutions, saying they are based on political motives rather than actual guilt. As for al Jazeera's Allouni, the network says it is appealing his sentence. Allouni gained fame by broadcasting the first interview with Osama bin Laden, from Afghanistan, after September 11. Allouni has lived and worked in Spain for many years. His boss, Al Jazeera news editor Ahmed Sheikh, told his station that the conviction marked "a black day for Spanish justice."

* Lamis Andoni, Longtime independent journalist covering the Middle East. She is currently a consultant for al Jazeera. She was with Taysir Allouni one of the 3 times he was arrested by Spanish authorities in connection with this case.

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http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/27/1434212