Al-Qaida suspect says he gave evidence under duress

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.

Abdulla Khayata Katan, a 29-year-old Spaniard of Syrian origin, denied any wrongdoing and said he was abused and humiliated at a Jordanian jail before being turned over to Spanish authorities in February of last year. Katan is accused of belonging to a terrorist organisation, but not direct involvement in September 11 planning.

“I love Spain,” he said. “I have never had any problems with anyone in Spain.”

Katan said he was insulted and physically abused while held in solitary confinement for 15 days in Jordan before being turned over to Spain. “They stepped on me. They humiliated me,” he told the court.

He said when he arrived in Madrid in handcuffs, he could not believe what was happening to him. “I thought it was a dream,” he said.

Prosecutors say that while living in Spain, Katan was recruited in 1995 to travel to Bosnia and teach Islamic fighters at a terrorism training camp.

He returned to Spain in 1996, formed an off-shoot of a Spanish al-Qaida cell and aided mujahedeen fighting in Bosnia and Afghanistan, according to prosecutor Pedro Rubira.

Katan said when he was interrogated last year in Madrid by Judge Baltasar Garzon, the magistrate pressured him to incriminate Imad Yarkas, the suspected leader of the Spanish al-Qaida cell.

Katan said Garzon interrogated him without a translator and at times turned off the tape recorder to tell him what to say. Katan said his comments in that interrogation had “nothing to do with reality.”

Rubira asked that the court replay excerpts of the tape. In the recording heard in court, Katan did not complain or sound like he was under duress.

He said in the tape that he went to Zenica, Bosnia, in 1995 and was at a large house housing young mujahedeen, or Islamic fighters, but that he had only worked there as a martial arts instructor.

Katan is one of 24 suspected al-Qaida members on trial in Madrid since April 22.

Three of the 24, including Yarkas, are accused specifically of helping plot the September 11, 2001, attacks in the US. The other 21 face charges of terrorism, illegal possession of weapons or explosives and other offences.