Terror Suspect Trial Begins in Germany

The higher regional court in Düsseldorf has begun hearing the case against Shadi Moh'd Mustafa Abdallah, a Jordanian national suspected of helping to plot terrorist attacks in Germany as a member of the al-Tawhid terror group.

The 26-year-old ethnic Palestinian was among nine people detained across Germany in April 2002 on suspicion of plotting terrorist attacks. The al-Tawhid cell, part of a group with alleged links to al Qaeda, "developed a plan to attack people in a busy square of a German city using a pistol with a silencer, and to detonate a hand grenade in another German city in the immediate vicinity of an Israeli or Jewish installation with the goal of killing as many people as possible," German prosecutors said last month. The prosecutors office has not identified the cities or locations the group allegedly wanted to target.

If found guilty of the charges of belonging to a terrorist organization and plotting terrorist acts, Abdallah could face up to 10 years in prison. The prosecutors say that the suspect has made an "extensive confession.'' Four other suspected members of the cell also remain in custody.

Task to identify targets, get weapons

"It was (Abdallah's) task to identify potential targets in Germany and above all to procure the necessary weapons," prosecutor Dirk Fernholz said in the opening statement of the trial on Tuesday. Abdallah had ordered the gun which was to be used in an assassination attempt and a box of hand grenades supposedly destined for the attack on a Jewish/Israeli installation from a contact person in Düsseldorf. But, anti-terror police closed in on Abdallah and his cell before the arms could be delivered.

In the course of the proceedings, Abdallah admitted to attending a training camp in Afghanistan from December 1999 until May 2001, and claimed to have served briefly as Osama bin Laden's bodyguard in Afghanistan. While testifying at the trial of the Hamburg cell collaborator Mounir el Motassadeq (photo) in November, Abdallah said that he had seen Motassadeq at one of the training camps while serving the al Qaeda leader. Motassadeq, a Moroccan, was convicted in February of aiding the Hamburg cell grouped around suspected September 11 lead hijacker Mohamed Atta and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Abdallah's contacts stretch deep into a suspected web of terror. He claims that he was a confidant of al-Tawhid leader Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, also a Jordanian citizen, who is currently at large abroad, the prosecutors said.

Allegedly close with al-Tawhid leader

Prosecuting counsel Dirk Fernholz told the court that Abdallah met Al-Zarqawi in the Afghan capital Kabul in May 2000 and that the two "developed a close, trusting relationship." Authorities involved in the case said that after their meeting, Al-Zarqawi told Abdallah to return to Germany to help the leader of the cell, identified only as Mohamed Abu D, who is also being held in custody. The al-Tawhid leader allegedly asked Abdallah to procure blank French, Spanish and Portuguese passports as well as a forged Moroccan passport for Al-Zarqawi himself.

Al-Zarqawi is wanted for his part in suspected plots to carry out terror attacks on U.S. and Israeli targets in Jordan. One such plan was executed last year with the murder of American diplomat Laurence Foley.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell (photo) has described Al-Zarqawi as an "associate and collaborator of bin Laden and his al Qaeda lieutenants."

The Islamic fundamentalist al-Tawhid group, which functions independently of al Qaeda, supports a worldwide "holy war" against nonbelievers, the German prosecution said.

The trial is scheduled to run until late September.