Posted on 09/02/2002 9:10:33 AM PDT by Wallaby
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Prosecutor asks for 3 more months to complete terrorist probe
Associated Press Worldstream ANTHONY DEUTSCH; Associated Press Writer September 2, 2002 Monday 10:43 AM Eastern Time
ROTTERDAM, Netherlands
The public prosecutor on Monday asked for three more months to complete his case against four men accused of plotting terrorist attacks against U.S. targets in France and Belgium.
Two Algerians, a Frenchman and a Dutchman are accused of running a terrorist support network out of a Rotterdam apartment to assist in strikes against the American Embassy in Paris and a U.S. munitions depot in Belgium.
Prosecutors say that in addition to the Paris embassy, the group targeted the Kleine-Brogel base in northeast Belgium, where around 100 U.S. Air Force personnel are stationed. Environmental groups claim the munitions dump also stores 26 B61 free-fall nuclear bombs.
Stolen passports and videotapes of Osama bin Laden are part of the prosecution's evidence. Prosecutors started setting out the broad lines of their case and immediately requested more time to complete their investigation.
Algerian Mohammed Berkous and Frenchman Jerome Courtailler were detained with Saaid Ibrahim, a Dutchman of Ethiopian origin, two days after the Sept. 11 attacks in a European-wide sweep of groups suspected of links to al-Qaida.
They have been in detention for nearly a year.
A fourth man, Algerian Amine Mezbar, was extradited to the Netherlands on July 19 from Canada to face similar charges.
Authorities have had trouble building their case against the men and were forced to release Ibrahim in February because of insufficient evidence. He is however still a suspect.
Prosecutors claim to have new evidence linking the men to terrorist activities, including their own dispositions in which they apparently revealed plans to strike at the military base in Belgium.
The Dutch cell allegedly worked in concert with Nizar Trabelsi, a Tunisian soccer player believed to have been the designated suicide bomber for the Paris attack, who was arrested on the same day in Belgium.
Defense lawyers for Courtailler and Berkous have demanded the release of their clients, arguing that the prosecution had presented no evidence of terrorism. They denied their clients had anything but a passing acquaintance with Trabelsi.
Although the Netherlands is reviewing legislation that would toughen punishments for terrorist-related crime, the four will be tried under old laws which may lead to lighter sentences if convicted.
Prosecutors say that in addition to the Paris embassy, the group targeted the Kleine-Brogel base in northeast Belgium, where around 100 U.S. Air Force personnel are stationed. Environmental groups claim the munitions dump also stores 26 B61 free-fall nuclear bombs.
France opened an investigation into the U.S. Embassy plot on Sept. 10 - a day before the U.S. attacks. About a dozen people have been jailed in connection with the case, including Trabelsi, who remains in detention in Belgium awaiting trial.
In a raid of the Dutch house in the port city of Rotterdam, police found about 60 stolen documents, including 26 foreign passports, as well as video speeches by Osama bin Laden, the leader of the al-Qaida network.
Mezbar's fingerprints were found at four sites where passports were stolen in the Netherlands in 1997 and 1999, according to the arrest warrant given to the Canadians.
Wire taps cited in Mezbar's warrant linked Courtailler and Berkous to Trabelsi's plans to attack the U.S. Embassy in Paris this summer.
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