The suspected financial mastermind of an al-Qaida cell accused of helping plot the September 11 attacks depicted himself today as a legitimate businessman and moderate Muslim who once argued angrily with associates over what constituted grounds for holy war.

An alleged al-Qaida member on trial in Madrid said today he endorsed a fatwa issued by Spanish Muslims against Osama bin Laden, condemning terrorism as he took the stand as a suspected member of a cell that allegedly helped plot the September 11 attacks on the US.

Mar Roman, Madrid

An alleged al-Qaida militant cried today after taking the stand on charges that he belonged to a cell accused of helping plot the September 11 attacks, and he said he had testified in Spain under duress.

A co-defendant told police that a key al-Qaida suspect – who earlier this week called himself a peace-loving moderate Muslim – is a radical who recruited men for “holy war” training in Afghanistan, according to testimony read to a Madrid court today.

A terror suspect who allegedly shot detailed video footage of the World Trade Centre – images described by a Spanish judge as the genesis of the September 11 plots – took the stand today at the trial of an al-Qaida cell accused of helping to plot the suicide airliner attacks.

A suspected Muslim extremist accused of helping to plot the September 11 attacks in the United States said today he had never even heard of al-Qaida until he was arrested four years ago on suspicion of leading one of its cells.

The man accused of leading a Spanish al-Qaida cell took the stand for a second day today at his trial on charges of helping organise the September 11 terror attacks in the US.

A trial of 24 suspected al-Qaida members, including three accused of helping plot the September 11, 2001, attacks in the US, went into its second day today with the lone native-born Spaniard among defendants again taking the stand.

AL-QAIDA’S suspected leader in Spain went on trial yesterday on charges of helping to plot the September 11 attack by aiding one of the suicide pilots.

Twenty-four men will go on trial in Spain today as suspected members of an al-Qaida cell charged with using their new homeland as a staging ground for the September 11, 2001, attacks.

A prosecutor is to seek 74,000-year prison sentences for each of three suspected al-Qaida members charged with using Spain as a staging ground for the September 11 attacks in the US.

A MOROCCAN fugitive sought in connection with last month’s Madrid train bombings was indicted yesterday on charges of helping plan the September 11 attacks in New York.

A judge charged four more suspects – three Moroccans and a Spaniard – with terrorism and mass killings over the Madrid bombings early today.

Police suspect that at least six Moroccans took part in the Madrid train bombings as the growing international investigation increasingly focused on Islamic militants possibly linked to al-Qaida.

THIS is the man Spanish police suspect is the mastermind behind the bombings which killed 201 people and injured more than 1,400 in Madrid last Thursday.

Tony Blair was today struggling to hold together the coalition which took military action in Iraq, after the Spanish Prime Minister-elect accused him and US President George W Bush of going to war on the basis of lies.

One of the three Moroccans arrested in the Madrid train bombings was a follower of a suspected al-Qaida member jailed in Spain for allegedly helping plan the September 11 attacks in the United States, according to court documents.