Three Algerians accused of distributing jihadist sermons 15/02/2008 00:00

Basque police on Thursday arrested three Algerian men accused of distributing CDs and MP3 recordings of radical Islamist preachers.

15 February 2008

BILBAO - Basque police on Thursday arrested three Algerian men accused of distributing CDs and MP3 recordings of radical Islamist preachers.

The group had allegedly been distributing the recordings, some of which reportedly called on Muslims to wage jihad against the West, in the Basque capital of Vitoria since December. The suspects, all of whom are in their late twenties or early thirties and have criminal records for a range of misdemeanours, apparently downloaded the material from the internet.

In raids yesterday on a bookshop where one of the suspects works, an Algerian-run telephone kiosk and on a private residence, police seized computers, hard drives, MP3 players and CDs. Noting that such operations are "delicate and difficult," Interior Minister Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba argued that the arrests are justified because Islamist extremists have been known to pass from "preaching and faith" to violence "in a very short period of time."

[Copyright EL PAÍS 2008]

Subject: Spanish news