Spain re-arrests Jazeera reporter
From CNN Madrid Bureau Chief Al Goodman
(CNN) -- Spanish police have re-arrested an Al-Jazeera TV correspondent after a court this week upheld his indictment on charges of belonging to a terrorist organization linked to al Qaeda, officials say.
Tayseer Allouni was indicted in September 2003 along with 34 others, including Osama bin Laden, by Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon, who was investigating suspected al Qaeda activity in Spain.
Garzon later expanded the indictment to include a total of 41 suspects. Some, although not Allouni, where charged with a suspected link to the September 11 attacks in the United States.
Allouni was released on bail in October 2003, a month after his indictment, for a heart condition, although he remained under indictment.
Allouni, who is in his mid-50s, and some others charged in the case appealed to have the charges against them dropped.
But this week, judges at the National Court, which handles cases of terrorism, confirmed the indictment, and the prosecutor asked that Allouni be re-arrested due to the risk of flight ahead of the pending trial, which could start next February, a court official in Madrid told CNN Friday.
The prosecutor also asked for the arrest of some other suspects named in the indictment. Like Allouni, they also had been freed from jail while remaining under indictment, the court official said.
Allouni could face 12 years in prison if convicted of the charge of belonging to a terrorist organization. The indictment alleges he carried funds for terrorist elements and provided other logistical aid.
The charges against Allouni stem from the time before he joined Al-Jazeera in 2000. Allouni strongly denies the charges.
Allouni's wife spoke to Al-Jazeera on Thursday and said no explanation was given for the arrest.
Allouni, is a Spanish national who lives in the southern Spanish city of Granada, with his family.
He is well-known for his reporting from Afghanistan in 2001 and he conducted a controversial interview with Osama Bin Laden less than two months after the September 11 attacks.
CNN Senior Arab Affairs Editor Octavia Nasr contributed to this report.
