Czech Leader Cites Atta-Iraqi Plot
W A S H I N G T O N, Nov. 10, 2001 -- Suspected terrorist Mohammed Atta contacted anIraqi agent with plans to blow up the Radio Free Europe building inPrague several months before the terrorist attacks in the UnitedStates, Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman said.
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Czech officials say Atta met with an Iraqi intelligence agentworking as a diplomat in Prague in April. The agent, Ahmad Khalil Ibrahim Samir Ani, was expelled from thecountry on April 22 for spying. "At first, Atta contacted some Iraq agent not to prepare theterroristic attack on" the trade center, "but to prepareterroristic attack on just the building of Radio Free Europe,"Zeman told the CNN news channel on Friday. Czech intelligence officials have made previous accusations thatIraqi spies were plotting possible terrorist attacks on theheadquarters of the U.S.-financed Radio Free Europe, but Zemancomments were the first time Atta has been connected to the plot. U.S. investigators believe Atta was at the controls of one ofthe planes that crashed into New York City's World Trade Center.They also believe he led the terrorist cell for Osama bin Laden,the Saudi-born fugitive who is the FBI's top suspect in the Sept.11 attacks on the trade center and the Pentagon. President Saddam Hussein's Iraqi government has long complainedabout Radio Free Europe's broadcasts to his country. When thebroadcasts began in 1998, the Baghdad government called theprogramming an "act of aggression" and pledged to halt all tradewith the Czech Republic. Iraq has denied having taken part in any bomb plot or havingconnections with bin Laden's group.—The Associated Press
French Agents Detain Five Suspected of Bin Laden Ties
P A R I S, Nov. 10 —
Five Algerians with alleged linksto Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden have been detained in theeastern French city of Strasbourg, a police source said ontoday. The four men and one woman are suspected of organising theescape to Spain of Mohamed Besnakhria, 34, an Algerian said tobe one of bin Laden's chief lieutenants in Europe. They were detained on Friday on the orders of Frenchanti-terrorist judges as part of an inquiry into a suspectedplot to launch attacks in Strasbourg in December 2000, and werestill being questioned in Strasbourg, the source said. The suspects could be brought to Paris for questioning byanti-terrorist judges Jean Louis Bruguiere and Jean-FrancoisRicard in the coming days. However the police source was cautious about the linksbetween those arrested and the suspected plot in Strasbourg. "For the time being we have to be extremely prudent aboutthe involvement of these people in the planned Strasbourgattacks," he said, adding the arrests were largely "preventive." Documents used for creating false identity papers were foundduring the arrest operation, he said. Arrested in the southeastern Spanish city of Alicante,Bensakhria was extradited to France in July where he is stillbeing held. He is suspected of having planned an attack againstStrasbourg's Christmas market or its cathedral in December 2000.—Reuters
Jordanian Student Denies Lying Under Oath
N E W Y O R K, Nov. 5 —
A student arrested last month for his alleged link to one of the suspected hijackers in
the Sept. 11 attacks pleaded not guilty to federal perjury charges in Manhattan Monday.
Osama Awadallah, a 21-year-old student at Grossmont College in California, was charged with lying during testimony presented before a grand jury. Awadallah initially claimed he did not know Nawaq Alhazmi and Khalid Al-Mihdhar, two of the five men believed to have hijacked United Flight 175 and slammed it into the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
But investigators said evidence suggested otherwise: "computer-generated photographs" of Osama bin Laden and other Islamic fundamentalist materials were found in Awadallah's home and his name and phone number were found in a car belonging to one of the hijackers.
Among the items investigators said were in Awadallah's car were graphic videotapes glorifying mujahideen martyrs in Bosnia. "Volunteer Muslim fighters from all parts of the globe flocked to Bosnia to defend Muslim blood, property and honour," declares marketing material for one of the videos, which features footage of slaughtered Muslims and mujahideen in combat.
Details of the investigation on Awadallah were revealed in an indictment released last Thursday at the U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
Read the indictment.
The first of the two counts against Awadallah stems from his testimony on Oct. 10 that he did not know hijacker Khalid Al-Midhar. The second is for denying he once wrote: "I have met many people from many countries. One of the quitest people I have met is Nawaf. Another one his name Khalid."
"This handwriting is not my handwriting," Awadallah told the grand jury when confronted with the passage, written in an exam book from one of his classes. "All of them is my handwriting except 'his name Khalid.' I wouldn't write 'Khalid' like that."
Confronted with the original exam book during another appearance before the grand jury on Oct. 15, Awadallah changed his story to acknowledge it did contain his handwriting.
Awadallah's attorney Jesse Berman said Awadallah did not lie to the grand jury, but was merely confused when discussing Al-Midhar.
Berman argued Awadallah had not seen either of the hijackers for at least a year. Awadallah downloaded the bin Laden photo and procured the Bosnia video out of curiousity, Berman said.—ABCNEWS