Beirut/Dusseldorf - A court in Beirut on Tuesday sentenced a
22-year-old Lebanese national, Jihad Hamad, to 12 years in jail,
finding him guilty of attempted mass murder for a failed bomb attack
on two trains in Germany in July 2006.
The bombs, had they detonated, could have caused carnage on the
scale seen in Madrid in March 2004 and in London in July 2005.
Hamad's co-conspirator, Youssef al-Hajj Dib, 23, was sentenced to
death in absentia, commuted to an effective 21 years. Three other
suspects, Khalid al Hajj Dib, 20, Ayman Hawwa, 23, and Khalil
Boubou, 24, were freed.
A sixth man linked to the case, Saddam al-Hajj Dib, the brother of
Youssef, was killed on May 21 during clashes between security forces
and Fatah al-Islam militants in the northern ity of Tripoli.
Hajj Dib went on trial Tuesday in the German city of Dusseldorf
for his role in the failed attack, charged with multiple murder.
During the Beirut trial, Hamad admitted in court that he and Hajj
Dib had bought two gas canisters, wires and two suitcases.
Their action had been a protest against the caricatures of the
Prophet Mohammed originally published in the Danish newspaper
Jyllands-Posten in September 2005, he said.
The two men built the bombs using designs they found on the
internet, placed them in the suitcases and went together to Cologne
station on July 31, 2006.
They took trains in opposite directions, left the bombs on board
and left the country. Neither bomb exploded.
Hamad has always denied that he was a follower of any 'Muslim
fundamentalist group or jihadist group.' He also denied any links
with al-Qaeda.
His lawyer, Fawaz Zakaria described the sentence as 'high and
harsh,' predicting Hajj Dib would receive a much lighter sentence in
Germany.
'I will appeal in 15 days and try to reduce this harsh sentence,'
Zakaria told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, adding that Hajj Dib had
influenced his client.
Hajj Dib, who was arrested at Kiel railway station in northern
Germany in August 2006, is reported to have shared an apartment in
Cologne with Jihad just weeks before the attempted bombings.
According to Zakaria, 'Youssef told Jihad that two German
newspapers had printed the Mohammad caricatures and that if they did
nothing ... they will go to hell...'
The lawyer stressed that Hamad was a victim and that he had 'never
belonged to any fundamentalist movement, but Youssef al Hajj-Dib has
brainwashed him for one week and told him to help in this act.'
Hamad's father, Shahid, a former Lebanese army soldier, described
his son as a victim. 'I just pray that the judge will accept the
appeal,' he told dpa.
German police said the two Lebanese had assembled the devices
wrongly.
Had there not been errors in the bombs' construction, the
explosions near the cities of Hamm and Koblenz would have resulted in
the deaths of hundreds of people.
In Dusseldorf, long queues formed outside the high-security court,
Tuesday delaying the start of proceedings, as police conducted body
searches of those entering, in some cases insisting they remove their
shoes.
Haj Dibb appeared calm as he entered the heavily guarded courtroom
and greeted his legal team.
Tuesday's proceedings were of a formal nature. The main part of
the trial is to commence next year and is expected to run for months.
Haj Dibb's defence is to argue that the young men deliberately
designed the bombs not to detonate, intending only to scare the
German public.
This is contested by the prosecution, which argues that the bombs'
construction points to an intent to cause death and serious injury.
Earlier allegations that a shadowy Islamist terrorist group
commissioned the attack have not been included in the German
indictment. Prosecutors accept it is possible the pair were fanatical
freelancers inspired by Islamist ideology.
Ottmar Breidling, one of Germany's leading trial judges dealing
with Islamist conspiracies, is presiding at the German trial.
Commuter trains were bombed by Islamist extremists in Madrid in
March 2004, claiming 191 lives. The London attacks in July the next
year caused 52 deaths, apart from the four suicide bombers.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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