BRUSSELS, 15 September 2004 — One of 10 suspected Islamic militants on trial in Belgium admitted yesterday being a link between Al-Qaeda leaders in Pakistan and Italy with operatives allegedly planning attacks in Belgium.
Saber Mohammed, an Iraqi national opposed to the regime of Saddam Hussein, said he was given two mobile phones by two men he met in a Brussels mosque shortly after he arrived in Belgium at the end of 2000. He told a Brussels court, where the trial opened amid tight security Monday, that he was asked to receive calls on the phones and discreetly pass on information to the two contacts.
Mohammed said that the two men, “who talked a lot about radical Islam and hated the West,” chose him because he was “not being bugged,” adding that he was “abused” by them and did not share their views.
According to prosecutors, on June 2, 2001 — three months before the 9/11 attacks — one of the two phones was called three times from Pakistan by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, considered Osama Bin Laden’s No. 3.
“There were also lots of calls from Essid Sami Ben Khemais,” a Turkish national considered one of Al-Qaeda’s point men in Italy, he said. Khemais was convicted in Milan in 2002 on charges unrelated to terrorism.
The two men for whom Mohammed said he served as “voicemail box” have been named as Moussa Zemmouri, a Moroccan-born Belgian currently detained at the US military base in Guantanamo Bay, and Moroccan Driss Elatellah.
The latter is supposed to be appearing in court at the trial of 10 suspected Islamic militants, which opened in Brussels on Monday. But he has refused to leave his cell or to appoint a lawyer to represent him.
Hearings opened on Monday against Mohammed and Belgian-Tunisian Takek Maaroufi, both of whom face up to five years in jail if convicted.
After questioning Mohammed again yesterday, the court turned its attention to the remaining eight defendants, including seven who prosecutors say were planning an attack in Brussels. The eight are accused on the basis of Belgian intelligence reports from March 2002 suggesting that an Islamist group was in the process of planning an attack on the Philips Tower, an office block in the center of Brussels.
The group was allegedly centered on Abdelhakim Gouram, who may have been the bomb maker and who is being tried in absentia as police have failed so far to find him.
According to investigators, Gouram hung around in Brussels with Driss Elatellah, as well as three brothers from the El Moumen family who are also on trial. He also had contacts with Ben Khemais and knew Nizar Trabelsi, a former Tunisian professional footballer who was convicted last year for a plot to attack a Belgian military base.
During raids on the homes of the El Moumen brothers at the start of last year, detectives notably found a Kalashnikov, nine grenades and a large quantity of ammunition, said presiding judge Claire Degryse.
The case is due to resume today, and is expected to end on Sept. 24.
