25 November 2004

HAMBURG - Germany's high court on Thursday formally blocked extradition of a Syrian national to Spain, where he is accused of being a major al-Qaeda terrorist.

The Federal Constitutional Court handed down a temporary six-month stay pending a ruling on the constitutionality of new pan-European arrest warrants which were applied by German authorities for the first time in this case.

The high court ruling overturned an earlier decision by Hamburg State Superior Court upholding the extradition order against Mamoun Darkazanli, who was arrested at his home in Hamburg last month on a European arrest warrant issued in Spain.

The 46-year-old suspect faces charges of membership in al-Qaeda and giving the group logistical and financial support. He could be sentenced to up to a dozen years in prison.

He is pictured in a 1999 wedding video with two of the three 11 September suicide pilots who lived and studied in Hamburg, Marwan al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah.

Darkazanli is among 41 suspects, including bin Laden himself, indicted by Baltasar Garzon, a Spanish judge investigating al-Qaeda.

DPA

Subject: German news