Alleged al-Qaida financier denies helping fund holy war

A Syrian-born Spaniard alleged to be the financial mastermind of an al-Qaida cell that helped plot the September 11 attacks in the US in 2001 said today he had never given “a single peseta” toward a jihad, or holy war.

Continuing his testimony at the trial in Madrid of 24 terror suspects - Europe’s biggest court case against radical groups with alleged ties to Osama bin Laden’s terror network – Mohamed Ghaleb Kalaje Zouaydi also denied he was ever a member of any Islamic group or engaged in recruiting young people to send as fighters to countries like Afghanistan.