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Al-Jazeera Reporter Jailed in Spain
(Democracy Now, November 22, 2004)
A journalist with the Arabic satellite television channel, Al-Jazeera, and ten others have been jailed in Spain ahead of a trial on charges of having links with Al-Qaeda. The ten were charged last year and have been free on bail for over a year. . . . Prosecutors urged that they remain in custody until their February trial for fear they may flee after their appeals were rejected last week. Lawyers for the ten criticized the order, saying they had abided by the conditions of bail set over a year ago. . . . Al Jazeera reporter Tayseer Alouni, who holds dual Syrian and Spanish citizenship, was arrested Thursday evening in the southern city of Granada, where he lives. Alouni is one of Al-Jazeera"s best-known journalists, and has interviewed Osama bin Laden. . . . The leading Spanish daily reports Alouni told the court "How am I going to run away? If I flee, I risk my entire journalistic career." Lawyers said Alouni and another of the ten had health problems that could get worse in jail. . . . ust after taking office in April, Rodriguez Zapatero fulfilled a campaign promise: he withdrew Spanish troops from Iraq and left the "coalition of the willing." To use Donald Rumsfeld´s terms, Spain left the New Europe and joined the Old Europe. . . . In the past few months, Rodriguez Zapatero has appointed a cabinet composed of 50 percent women, and drawn up legislation that if passed will legalize abortion and gay marriage, introduce gender violence laws and roll back many of Aznar's conservative educational and social initiatives. In its proposed annual budget, which now awaits approval in Congress, the government has earmarked more funds for social spending, somewhat reduced the military budget and increased aid to developing countries. . . . Meanwhile, US-Spanish relations are at an all-time low, particularly after Rodriguez Zapatero pulled troops from Iraq and then gave an anti-war speech before the UN General Assembly calling on other countries to withdraw from Iraq.

posted by LoZo 9:22 AM