AN UPDATE ON TAYSIR ALOUNI

Jeffrey Blumenthal, Editorial Intern In September 2003, Al Jazeera reporter Taysir Alouni was arrested at his home in Spain on charges of giving assistance to a Spanish cell of the Al Qaeda terrorist network. Alouni, who was indicted along with 34 other terrorism suspects, stands accused of giving information and money to a suspected Al Qaeda leader while he was acting as Al Jazeera's bureau chief in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 2000. Al Jazeera expressed outrage at the accusations, calling them an attack on freedom of the press. For his part, Alouni acknowledged that he had brought small amounts of money to Afghanistan during his time there, but he insisted that the money was part of an annual charitable donation to the poor, known as a zakat, dictated by the Quran. On October 23, Alouni, 48, was released on $7,000 bail based on a medical report showing that he had heart trouble. No trial date has been set. After the attacks of September 11, 2001, Alouni was the first journalist to interview Osama bin Laden, and he also helped Al Jazeera to secure video tapes of bin Laden in the following months. Alouni reported for Al Jazeera during the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. The judge who ordered the arrest, Baltasar Garzon, had made headlines previously for his attempts to prosecute South American dictators, including Gen. Augusto Pinochet, for human rights abuses. Spanish newpapers have been critical of Judge Garzon in this case, accusing him of exaggerating the evidence and overstepping his bounds in a high-profile indictment that includes bin Laden. On November 30, a Spanish nongovernmental organization, the Francisco Mateos foundation, awarded Alouni a peace prize for his coverage of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, portraying the brutality of conflict and fighting manipulation of the media, according to a foundation statement. Previous recipients of the award include the Dalai Lama and Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The foundation, which is dedicated to international cooperation and social work within Spain, said in the statement, "You are not only innocent, you are a good professional, a hero and an example to be followed." Close This Window