MADRID, April 14: An Al Jazeera correspondent arrested in Spain and charged with being a member of Al Qaeda says the FBI requested his arrest.
Tayseer Alouni said this on Wednesday during a news conference via video from his house in Madrid.
Alouni — who became famous for interviewing Osama bin Laden in Oct 2001 — also called on the international media to send their journalists to cover his trial, branding the Spanish judiciary biased.
Alouni was first arrested in Sept 2003 in the southern Spanish city of Granada, where he was living, as part of an investigation into militant activities in Spain.
He was then re-arrested in November last year, as the authorities believed he might try to leave the country, and was held in isolation in a prison near Madrid.
Last month he was released on medical grounds and put under house arrest, as he is suffering heart and back problems.
“I was told the Spanish authorities have arrested me because of a precise request from the FBI,” he told journalists and members of the Qatari Red Crescent.
He attacked the Spanish press for ignoring his case and being loyal to the government, and also accused the country’s judicial system which he said was not independent and is under the influence of political lobbies.—By arrangement with AKI
