Alleged al-Qaida financial mastermind 'just a moderate muslim'

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.

Syrian-born real estate promoter Mohamed Ghaleb Kalaje Zouaydi is accused of using his business dealings as a front for financing the Spanish cell and funnelling money to Muslim extremists in other countries, including Germany, another staging ground for the suicide airliner attacks of 2001 in the US.