When he was arrested in Dubai in July 2001, Djamel Beghal, a French Algerian already known to French services, confessed he had been ordered by Osama bin Laden’s top lieutenant, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, to set up a terrorist cell to strike US interests in France. He admitted he had attended meetings in Afghanistan’s training camps in preparation to blow up the US Embassy in Paris. But when he was later extradited to France, Beghal denied any involvement in terrorist activities. During his trial in Paris, Beghal delivered a detailed testimony accusing Emirates interrogators of having psychologically and physically tortured him to accept an already established scenario. “This attack never existed, neither in my imagination, nor in reality,” said Beghal. Beghal, who is being judged with five co-defendants, is accused of recruiting terrorists and leading a terrorist cell in France with ramifications throughout Western Europe in Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom. Full Story
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