MADRID - Television reporter Tayssir Alluni on Monday recounted how he interviewed Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden weeks after the September 11 attacks in the United States and told a Spanish court he was innocent of charges linking him with the terrorist group.
Alluni, born in Syria in 1955 and who interviewed Bin Laden for the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television network on October 21, 2001, is accused of having links to several key figures including Mamoun Darkazanli, believed to be Al-Qaeda's financier in Europe, according to the charge sheet.
The prosecution maintains Alluni received thousands of dollars to pass on to Al-Qaeda operatives from Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, alias Abu Dahdah, thought to have headed the group's Spanish cell.
But it was the reporter's exclusive scoop with Bin Laden five weeks after the September 11 attacks which killed nearly 3,000 people which propelled Alluni into the limelight and he readily related how the interview came about after an emissary made contact on October 7.
"He said: 'I've come on behalf of Osama Bin Laden'. He just said he was an emissary, full stop," said Alluni, relaxed in an open-necked shirt and dark jacket as he described himself as "an independent journalist working for Al-Jazeera.
After putting feelers out, Alluni said a fortnight later he was told he had some visitors.
"There are people asking for you -- they are at the door," security personnel told him.
Alluni explained further: "They said if you want to cover an important story come with us. Get in the car."
After being blindfolded and driven off for more than two hours the "important story" was waiting for him.
He said he told the Al-Qaeda leader: "I am interested in putting questions on your ideology" and duly did so, adding that his host said "thanks for coming -- excuse the conditions."
Asked about dozens of phone calls logged by investigators to fellow suspected Islamic radicals Alluni insisted they were "innocent calls."
Many he said consisted of acquaintances asking him about his wife and family.
Alluni quoted extracts from several of the calls, such as "I hope your family are in good health."
Top Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon charged Alluni, who took out Spanish nationality in 1988, in September 2003, accusing him of using his position as a journalist to pass information to suspected Al-Qaeda operators.
Garzon alleged Alluni had engaged in activities "which have nothing to do with his profession of journalist" and which purportedly show that he had "links with members of a criminal organisation."
Alluni is furthermore alleged to have links with Mohamed Galeb Kalaje, believed to have financed a Spanish-based Al-Qaeda cell which police dismantled after September 11.
In all, 24 men suspected of being Al-Qaeda associates are standing trial in Madrid. Three of them are accused of helping plot the September 11 attacks and face sentences of more than 60,000 years if found guilty.
Alluni, who covered both the US-led war to oust the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq -- his offices were hit by bombs during both conflicts -- himself faces a nine-year sentence.
Alluni went to Afghanistan in January 2000 and there allegedly passed funds to Syrian national Mohamed Bahaiah, alias Abu Khaled, with whom he was reputedly "in permanent contact" while in Kabul.
He insists he is innocent and that all contacts with suspected radicals were part of "doing my job."
Alluni was initially released owing to a heart condition a month after his September 2003 arrest but was re-arrested last November.
In March the father of five was again released from preventive detention but on condition he be placed under surveillance.
The Madrid trial began on April 22 and is due to last until the end of June.

05/16/2005 13:54 GMT