Germany Agrees on Al Qaeda Suspect's Extradition
October 17, 2004
The extradition to Spain of an Arab businessman long accused by the United States of financing al Qaeda and investigated by German authorities for links to the September 11 "Hamburg cell" has been cleared by German authorities.
Mamoun Darkazanli, who holds both Syrian and German citizenship, was arrested on Friday in Hamburg. A justice ministry spokesman said on Sunday that the federal government saw no barrier to his extradition, although it needed first to be formally approved by a court.
If Darkazanli appears before a court and is then put on trial, the 46-year-old would be the third suspected associate of the Hamburg cell to do so. The group, led by Egyptian Mohamed Atta, supplied three of the hijackers who led the suicide attacks on New York and Washington in which nearly 3,000 people died.
Suspect remained free after 9/11
Darkazanli's import-export company was one of 27 groups or people whose US assets were ordered frozen by Washington within two weeks of the attacks on suspicion of links to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
A month after the attacks, his name appeared on a United Nations sanctions list of "individuals belonging to or associated with al Qaeda", obliging all countries to freeze his assets and deny him entry.
Amazingly, Darkazanli remained free until he was detained on Friday despite being one of five men under investigation by German prosecutors in connection with the 9/11 attacks.
Spanish indictment leads to detention
Friday's arrest was carried out under a warrant issued by Spain, where Darkazanli was one of 35 people who were charged by Judge Baltasar Garzon in September 2003 with belonging to al Qaeda. "Al Qaeda is expanding its tentacles around the world and among the key figures is Mamoun Darkazanli," Garzon said in his indictment.
The huge document claims Darkazanli had close personal contacts to Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, alias Abu Dahdah, the alleged leader of al Qaeda operations in Spain.
Document lists meeting with terror suspects
It lists dozens of telephone calls and meetings between Darkazanli and other indicted suspects, and details four visits he made to Spain from 1997 onwards. The last took place in July 2001, the same month that Atta met other senior al Qaeda figures in Spain to finalize plans for the suicide attacks on the United States.
The charge sheet says Darkazanli carried out "logistics support and financing activity" for al Qaeda, including the purchase of a cargo vessel for bin Laden which he and two others bought in December 1993.
Darkazanli acquired his German nationality by marriage, a factor which had held up his extradition until now. That changed in August when Germany implemented the European Union's new common arrest warrant, which quickens and simplifies the process for handing over suspects between EU member states.