Majorcan lawyer wants Al Qaeda suspect released

The Majorcan lawyer representing the suspected Al Qaeda finance Officer Ahmed Brahim yesterday lodged an appeal against his client being held in prison incommunicado and that Brahim should either be freed or released on bail. High Court judge Ismael Moreno ordered that Brahim be jailed unconditionally on Wednesday under the suspicion of being involved with Bin Laden's international terrorist network Al Qaeda, but Brahim's lawyer, Miguel Ill Ferrer said on Thursday that his client has nothing to do with Al Qaeda. Ill said that Brahim has told him that should anybody be able to prove any of the allegations against him, Brahim would “let them cut his head off.” Ill is also questioning whether the High Court had given an order for his client's telephones be tapped and also claims that, despite Brahim knowing he was under investigation - his Luxembourg bank account was frozen four months ago in accordance with a High Court order - his client remained in Spain “when the logical thing would have been to flee the country.” Brahim is also said to have housed Mandhu Mandhu Salim, currently awaiting trial in the States for his alleged role in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa, at his Palma apartment, where Brahim lived for 14 years, on two separate occasions and his relationship with Salim is being viewed as suspicious by investigators. Miguel Ill says that if the grounds for his client's arrest and subsequent link to Al Qaeda is knowing Salim, then everybody who has either met Salim of whose phone numbers appear in Salim's address book should also be arrested. “My client's relationship with Salim has no criminal value,” the lawyer said. “We fully understand the need for international co-operation and that they continue to investigate all types of crime, especially ones so terrible. But you've got to respect people's fundamental rights.” Brahim, who also ran a yachting business in Palma until 1999 which the security services claim was a “business front,” is to be questioned by High Court judge Baltasar Garzón who is leading the probe into Al Qaeda in Spain. He wants to establish if Brahim is involved with the Al Qaeda terrorist organisation.