Witness in Spain Islamist trial says controversy over her burka is due to ignorance

Witness in Spain Islamist trial says controversy over her burka is due to ignorance
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By m.p. - Sep 28, 2009 - 1:29 PM
Declaring this time with her face uncovered, she said her brother was in an Al Qaeda training camp before his suicide attack

Fatima Hssini arriving at court on Monday - EFE

The trial continues in the National Court of nine people charged with recruiting and sending Mujahedeen to carry out suicide attacks in Iraq. They were arrested in Vilanova i Geltrú, Barcelona province, in January 2006 and face possible sentences ranging from 7 to 18 years.

At least two of the people they allegedly recruited later died in suicide bombings in Iraq and called to the stand as a witness this Monday was Fatima Hssini, the sister of one of those who died. She was originally in court last Wednesday, but was expelled by Judge Javier Gómez Bermúdez after refusing to lift her burka.

The judge told her at the time that it is obligatory to declare in a Spanish court with the face uncovered, also commenting that he needed to see her face to see if she was lying or not, or if any question surprised her.

Speaking to journalists as she arrived to give her testimony on Monday morning, Fatima Hssini said the controversy which arose after the incident last week was due to ignorance. Wearing the burka is seen as much more normal, she said, in other European countries than it is in Spain.

She answered questions in the National Court with her face uncovered and said her brother, Hassan Hssini, had confirmed to her that he was in a training camp under the orders of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, formerly the Al Qaeda leader in Iraq. Europa Press reports the witness’s brother died in a suicide attack in Faluya on 22nd January 2005.

His sister’s husband, Francisco, told the court when he took the stand that he heard about his brother-in-law’s death in a phone call from his father-in-law, informing him of Hassan’s ‘marriage’ – noted by the news agency as code for suicide.

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