~ SPAIN'S 3/11 TRIAL ~

[HOUDA-K]

By Karima Rhanem

Jamal Zougam, a 32-year-old Moroccan, accused of being a lead bomber in the 2004 Madrid train blasts, told a court on Wednesday he was not an extremist and that he barely knew Syrian Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, a top suspect in the 9/11 attacks.



Zougam appeared for about 15 minutes as a witness to shed light on the activities of the 24 defendants, three of whom are accused of links to the 9/11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in the US.

The High Court on the western side of Madrid has already heard from the accused themselves, who include the Syrian Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, alias Abu Dahdah, thought to have headed the group's Spanish cell that was dismantled in the aftermath of the US attacks.

Jamal Zougam, who owned a mobile phone shop, is believed to be the source of the mobile phones which served to trigger the bombs placed in the Madrid trains, killing 192 commuters.

One of the mobile phones which did not detonate led the Spanish police to the Moroccan suspect whom several witnesses have reportedly recognized as one of the men who planted the bombs.

Zougam said he hardly knew Yarkas, their paths crossing only when they shopped in the Madrid district of Lavapies, an area with a large Arab population.

Prosecutors say Zougam and Yarkas spoke by telephone on Sept. 5, 2001, less than a week before the US attacks, the allegation being they were in on the plot.

“I don't remember that call,” Zougam stated calmly, stressing that his contacts with Yarkas were only for business.

The Syrian had also confirmed that his contacts with Zougam were merely for business and that he did not consider him as a “good Muslim” for he used to hang out with girls.

Zougam was also heard to say he had met and offered financial aid to Mohamed Fizazi, who is believed to be the spiritual leader of Salafiyah Jihadiyah, a Moroccan extremist group.

Fizazi was found guilty by a Moroccan court last year of involvement in May's suicide bombings that killed 45 people in Casablanca, and was jailed for 30 years.

Zougam had come under investigation by the Spanish police at the request of the French authorities, who had found his name in an address book belonging to David Courtailler, a French convert to Islam who went on trial in Paris on charges of terrorist association.

Zougam, who said he arrived in Spain at the age of 15 – after his parents divorce – and found work in construction, restaurants and clothes stores, said he was stunned tofind himself accused of involvement in the Madrid train bombing.

“I was just doing what work I could get. I was a trader until March 13, 2004,” Zougam said, referring to the day of his arrest.

“The police came to my boutique on March 13 and I wasn't aware of anything, but then suddenly my name was splashed all around the world on TV,” he added.

Zougam said 13 months in detention had been a terrible experience. “They treat me badly in jail. They think I'm dangerous,” he stated.

Under Spanish law the suspects in the Madrid bombings case cannot be charged until legal investigations have concluded.

"I never heard anybody talk about Afghanistan or war," he said. "The only war I know is to help my family,” he added.

Zougam also denied knowing a man named Salaheddine Benyaich, alias "Abou Moghn", a former fighter in Bosnia and in Chechnya, currently imprisoned in Morocco for involvement in the Casablanca terrorist attacks of May 16, 2003.