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NEWS
"Brains" Behind 9/11 and Shul Bombing in Jerba on Trial
By R. Hoffner
The trial of the man who declared himself "the brains" behind
the 9/11 attack, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who has been
detained at the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba, got
underway in France. He faces charges of planning the deadly
attack at the historic El Ghariba Synagogue on the Tunisian
island of Jerba on April 11, 2002, in addition to his trial
in the US.
The results of the trial are expected to be only symbolic and
will not affect his actual sentence, but the case is expected
to raise awareness on the deeds committed by Al Qaeda's North
African network, known as Al Qaeda Maghreb. According to
reports one month after the attack, it was perpetrated by the
Islamic Army for the Liberation of Holy Places, an Al Qaeda
affiliate that also claimed responsibility for the attacks on
the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. Last month in
a US court Mohammed announced that he was prepared to confess
to the crimes attributed to him and accept the death
penalty.
In the Jerba terror attack, which took place less than one
year after 9/11, a suicide bomber rammed a truck laden with
gas canisters and homemade explosives into the ancient shul.
The blast left 21 people dead, including 13 German tourists,
five Tunisians and two French nationals, whose deaths led to
the investigation in France. The synagogue itself sustained
heavy damage. According to the investigation conducted by
French police on the day of the attack, the suicide bomber,
24-year-old Nizar Nawar, spoke via satellite phone with
Mohammed in Pakistan, who issued explicit instructions. The
attacker's body was never found.
In addition to Mohammed, who was not present for the
proceedings, two other suspects are being tried for
involvement in the attack: Christian Ganczarski, a German
national who converted to Islam and who also was in contact
with Nawar and gave his blessings before the terrorist set
out on his suicide mission. According to the prosecution,
during his visits to Pakistan as a computer expert for Al
Qaeda, Ganczarski was in contact with senior organization
members, including Osama Bin Laden. Ganczarski was deported
from Germany at the end of 2002 and arrested at Charles de
Gaulle Airport.
The second defendant is the brother of the terrorist who
carried out the attack, Walid Nawar, who is suspected of
knowing about the attack and even bought his brother the
satellite phone. Based on wiretapping by the German police,
both defendants have been charged as accessories to a
terrorist attack and attempted murder. If convicted they are
expected to receive life in prison. The victims' families
gathered at the courthouse and called for heavy sentences.
"We're hoping for life imprisonment and we hold the evidence
is sufficient," said the attorney representing the families
of the German victims.
Even before the attack, the El Ghariba Synagogue had been
subject to hostilities and harassment by local Muslims.
During Simchas Torah in 5746 (1985) one of the policemen who
secured the shul opened fire on the congregants, killing
three, including a young child Hy"d. Yet these
tensions had not deterred Jews now living around the world
but originally from the kehilloh from arriving at the
island every year for Lag B'Omer festivities. El Ghariba, the
most famous of the 20 botei knesses on the island, is
considered one of the world's oldest shuls and houses what is
believed to be the world's oldest sefer Torah. It is
located in the former Jewish village of Hara Seghira ("the
Little Quarter"), now known as Er-Riadh, just a few miles
south of the island capital Houmt-Souk.
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