Free Republic

(15:20) Terror suspect tells German court: 'You're all Jews.' By Melissa Eddy, The Associated Press April, 16 2002 FRANKFURT, Germany - The trial of five Algerian men charged with plotting to blow up a French holiday market opened with a flourish today when a defendant disrupted the proceedings and was removed from court. While the other defendants shielded their faces from a TV camera allowed to tape the opening five minutes, 31-year-old defendant Lamine Maroni, speaking in Arabic, recited Koranic verses, swore and urged the others not to testify. He was warned not to continue, but went on in English...

Intelligence agencies have had some success in tracking suspected al-Qaeda operatives. But the organisation is changing to continue its fight against the West. The West has never encountered an enemy like al-Qaeda before. The problem for the world's intelligence agencies is that it is not a unified organisation with an identifiable structure, like the IRA, but an amalgam of groups around the world whose members embrace Osama bin Laden's ideology of global jihad, or holy war. These Jihadi warriors share the belief that they have an obligation to fight the oppressors of their Muslim brothers, from Palestinians in the Middle...

FRANKFURT, Germany - One of four Algerians accused of plotting to blow up a French Christmas market told a German court Monday that he had spent six months in training camps in Afghanistan, and said he met two of the other defendants in neighboring Pakistan. In nearly four hours of questioning by Judge Karlheinz Zeiher, Salim Boukari said that on his journey back to Europe, he met co-defendants Aeurobi Beandalis and Fouhad Sabour in a guest house in Pakistan that was a base for people traveling to and from the Afghan camps. The three, along with fourth defendant Lamine Maroni,...

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — German prosecutors sought prison sentences Tuesday of up to 12 1/2 years for four Algerians accused of plotting to bomb holiday crowds they considered ``the enemies of God'' at a French Christmas market two years ago. In nearly five hours of closing arguments, prosecutors disputed claims laid out in testimony by Aeroubi Beandalis, Salim Boukari, and Fouhad Sabour that they, along with Lamine Maroni, had planned to attack an unoccupied synagogue. ``They were fully aware that many innocent people — including children — could die or at least be injured,'' said prosecutor Volker Brinkmann. He asked...

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - A German judge on Thursday freed one of five Algerians held in connection with a plot to blow up a crowded French Christmas market, citing a lack of evidence. Abdelkader Krimou, falsely named in the indictment as Samir Karimou, had been charged with belonging to the terror group, but not directly with plotting the attack. The charges were dropped as of Thursday. Judge Karlheinz Zeiher ruled there was not enough evidence that he belonged to the group, which prosecutors say intended to set off explosives at the Christmas market in Strasbourg, France in December 2000. Krimou...