Post a Comment Print Share on Facebook
Featured Rusia Ucrania Tribunal Supremo Terrorismo Irán

The alleged leader of the jihadist group that planned to attack Barcelona: "We are friends, there are no cells here"

The defendants deny that Russian interests were set and distance themselves from the Islamic State: "I am against terrorists".

- 10 reads.

The alleged leader of the jihadist group that planned to attack Barcelona: "We are friends, there are no cells here"

The defendants deny that Russian interests were set and distance themselves from the Islamic State: "I am against terrorists"

MADRID, 23 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Rabah H., indicated by the Prosecutor's Office as the alleged leader of a jihadist cell developed with "the ideology" of the Islamic State that had among its plans "the perpetration of an attack" in Barcelona, ​​has denied this Wednesday during the trial in the Court National the facts of which he is accused. "We are friends, there is no cell here," he assured.

In the first session of the oral hearing, Rabah, for whom the Public Ministry is asking for 14 years in prison for a crime of promoting and directing a terrorist group, has insisted that he is accused "of something that is a lie." "We are not a band or we have something to do: each one lives his life," he added.

Rabah, also known as Berkan Azizi, is according to the Public Prosecutor's Office the leader of the terrorist cell based in Barcelona and in which Omar N., in charge of training and contact with DAESH, would have integrated; Hatab S., alias 'Miami', in command of the computer apparatus, and Lyes A., alias 'Soufian', target identifier.

The Public Ministry maintains in its letter that the cell was in a position to act in the Catalan capital. "Not only had they been theoretically trained in the postulates of radical jihadist Salafism, but they had also been trained in the manufacture of explosives and in the handling of other types of weapons and had begun the process to provide themselves with the necessary weapons for that purpose," explains the Prosecutor's Office.

Rabah, however, has maintained that he did not communicate with anyone to try to get hold of weapons or to make explosives. On this point, he recalled the day that the Mossos d'Esquadra searched his home. "He came from the bomb, goes to the kitchen cupboard and takes red and black pepper * and nothing. And on top of that he says 'fake news', like that in English", stressing the absence of material to attack.

The main defendant has also denied the alleged family ties to terrorist organizations. "My father served a 10-year sentence for hashish," he explained, adding that the GIA, the armed wing of the Algerian Islamic Salvation Front, killed his cousin and his cousin's daughter. The Prosecutor's Office, on the contrary, maintains that Rabah used the name of the aforementioned Berkan Azizi in Spain "in order to hide the relationship of his father and his uncle" with the GIA itself.

Omar N., the supposed person in charge of the formation of the cell, has explained his relationship with Lyes, who would take charge of the identification of objectives. "I've known him since we were children. We used to steal. I've known another for 20 years, from the same neighborhood as always. Sometimes we played football or had a drink. Then each one went to work, and I stayed a thief," he said. .

However, Omar N. has flatly denied his alleged closeness to DAESH. "That has not entered my head," he pointed out, emphasizing that his habits are the opposite of the postulates defended by the terrorist organization. "All the bars, everyone knows me, I am at night. I drink a little," he added.

For his part, Hatab S., presumably in charge of the group's computer logistics, has detailed what his work consists of. "I have been in Spain since 1998. I was a thief until 2009, when I started working as a home appliance technician and satellite dish installer," he explained.

In his work, however, Hatab S. did not access the "content" of the devices he fixed, which included tablets and computers. "I know how to repair a lot, hacking is not my type of job. If it were, I would live better: I would be a cybercriminal if I had known how to do those programming," he emphasized.

The defendant has also ruled out that he dedicated himself to installing programs so that his colleagues could access the 'deep web', from where radical content could be accessed.

Hatab S. has defended, in this context, that the installation of files and programs of which the Prosecutor's Office accuses him are available to "anyone" with a mobile. "There are applications that are there to watch football. There are lots. Red card... to watch football. And Movistar Plus, so as not to pay, of course," he has asserted.

The one designated as the presumed target identifier for the cell, Lyes A., has maintained that he is "against the terrorists." Thus, he has denied that he shared a video in which express threats were made towards Barcelona because he shared the intentions of attacking. "I sent this video to a friend who had epilepsy to give him a bit of courage, to cheer him up," he said.

Lyes A. has also been approached over the photographs that were found on his mobile phone of several yachts owned by Russian citizens. This matter is of special relevance as the Prosecutor's Office argues that the cell, and specifically Lyes A., paid "special attention" to "Russian interests".

"They say that the owners are Russian, I don't know. That's my neighborhood, I stop there, I eat there, I walk there. I've been there for more than 20 years. There are more than 30, 40, 80 photos: they are my souvenirs. I have a lot of truth, I like boats", he justified.

Hichem H., who according to the Public Ministry would have collaborated with the cell to obtain data on targets, worked in a maintenance company for those same luxury boats. "Where the photos have been taken, everyone takes photos. I have been in this job for almost 15 years, always for the same company," he explained.

The defendant has distanced himself from the searches related to DAESH that were found in one of his seized devices. "It was a stolen tablet, I don't know what was inside," he said, denying that he had any contact with the Islamic State. "Never, never, never", he has emphasized himself.

On the other hand, Younas E., accused of helping the cell to try to obtain weapons, has refused to collaborate with the group for this purpose. In his opinion, it would be "nonsense" to have been in prison for arms trafficking and "offer" this type of product again. "There is no possibility of this," he said.

Younas E., who spent "three or four days" in prison with the alleged leader of the group, has denied that he offered him the possibility of acquiring weapons. In addition, he has made it clear that he did not detect signs of radicalization in the main defendant.

The last to testify this Wednesday was an undercover agent who was related to all the defendants, and who has assured, among other things, that he heard them sing various jihadist songs and talk about the Islamic State.

However, and after the doubts raised by questions from the defenses, the president of the court has tried to discern why he came to the conclusion that the songs to which he has alluded were related to jihadism. "There are many types of music in Arabic. Were you able to identify that music at some point? Did you have suspicions or did you know it?" Judge José Antonio Mora approached him.

The agent has indicated that he previously documented and viewed some video to be able to "know the voice" and identify if they were chants of that style. "And some of those sounded familiar to me," he assured, acknowledging that, however, he could not exactly say the title of any of those songs.