Britain jails pair for plotting to help bin Laden's network

LONDON - Britain's first two convicted al Qaeda terrorists have been sentenced to 11 years' jail each for plotting to raise funds and recruit members for Osama bin Laden's terrorist network.

Meanwhile Yemen has announced the arrest of 11 suspects and Italy says it is holding six men, including an imam, suspected of links to al Qaeda.

Leicester Crown Court in central England was told that Brahim Benmerzouga, 31, and Baghdad Meziane, 38, illegal immigrants from Algeria, made thousands of pounds through an elaborate credit card fraud.

They also supplied military equipment, false travel documents and recruitment material to the organisation.

A jury unanimously convicted them of conspiracy to defraud banks and credit card companies and of funding terrorism.

Sentencing the pair, Justice Curtis said he appreciated neither had committed a terrorist act that had killed or seriously injured anyone.

"You have not directly taken life or seriously injured anyone but the terrorists, in order to carry out their terrible killings and maimings, need money, false papers and military-style materials," he said.

"You both provided terrorists with the vital support and ran a well-organised and secretive cell."

The men had been living in Leicester and worked together in a factory in Corby, Northamptonshire, but secretly acted as a support unit for al Qaeda. They used numerous false identities between them, and were secretly part of an intricate network of terrorist cells across Europe.

Benmerzouga had amassed more than 60 films promoting suicide bombings and martyrdom, including 19 copies of a video of Osama bin Laden.

Meziane had a book entitled A Biography Of The Freedom Fighter Osama Bin Laden and material about the September 11, 2001, attacks was found on a computer at his home. More material was discovered at the homes of their associates across Europe.

Benmerzouga and Meziane collected the names and credit card details of almost 200 different bank accounts on computer discs and envelopes found littered around their homes and cars. Credit cards were sent to associates across Europe, allowing them to fraudulently amass more than £200,000 ($570,000) for terrorist causes. The pair built up technology used to support their terrorist colleagues around the world.

Meziane was the mastermind behind the distribution of false passports and is believed to have supplied a false passport to a suspected al Qaeda member before a trip to a training camp in Afghanistan.

Meziane had one false passport in the name of Cyril Jacob, which he used to open bank accounts, get a job and claim benefits.

Benmerzouga had three false passports in the names of Brahim Ben Merzouga, Mohamed Mehdi Mesli and Amine Salmi, which he used for similar purposes.

Coded emails were found on a computer in his flat, talking of prices for "washed" and "unwashed" clothes which are thought to have referred to doctored travel visas.

A selection of military-style equipment, including a solar powered battery, a "shopping list" of radio parts and a triple band mobile were found in Benmerzouga's home. All of this equipment was suitable for use in the training camps of Afghanistan, the court was told.

In San'a, the capital of Yemen, a security official said at least two of the 11 detainees were on the Government's list of most wanted terror suspects.

The suspects were arrested in various parts of Yemen at the weekend and have been detained in the intelligence prison in the capital.

Yemen has seen almost daily protests - some violent - since the war in Iraq began on March 20. Three people were shot dead and dozens wounded when police clashed with about 30,000 demonstrators near the US Embassy on March 21.

In Italy, an Egyptian, a Somali and two Iraqi Kurds suspected of links with the Ansar-al-Islam militant group in Iraq were detained in Milan and Parma.

Later police arrested a Tunisian imam of a mosque and another North African, who, they said, were linked to al Qaeda.

A newspaper report said the men were preparing to leave for Iraq.

- INDEPENDENT, AGENCIES