Spain arrests suspect linked to plot to kill cartoonist

By Alyssa McMurtry

MADRID

Spanish authorities have arrested Ali Charaf Damache, a suspected member of al-Qaeda who is wanted in the U.S. on terror charges.

Charaf Damache, who holds both Irish and Algerian nationalities, was arrested in Barcelona on Thursday and transferred overnight to Madrid where he will appear before the Spanish High Court.

Charaf Damache has already served prison time in Ireland, after being arrested in 2010 for making a menacing phone call to an American Muslim activist.

In 2011, the United States also accused him of using an online chat room to recruit American women for a terrorist cell and of providing material support to terrorists.

While in custody in Ireland, the High Court refused in May to extradite him to a prison in Colorado State in the U.S. The ruling judge, Aileen Donnelly, said there were “substantial grounds for believing that Damache will be at a real risk of being subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment if extradited to the USA”.

According to the Irish Times, Damache “walked out that afternoon”.

Amnesty International deemed the Irish Court’s decision a win for human rights.

If extradited to the U.S., Charaf Damache is potentially looking at up to 45 years in prison.

Charaf Damache is suspected of being part of an al-Qaeda cell that planned to kill Swedish cartoonist, Lars Vilks, who depicted Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog.

After the arrest, the U.S. Justice Department in Philadelphia, where the charges against Charaf Damache are lodged, confirmed that the U.S. “will be seeking extradition”.

In a press conference, Jordi Jane, the Catalonian interior minister, said Charaf Damache carried his Irish passport and was jumping from hotel to hotel, avoiding leaving a trail.

According to Jane, the arrest was made after a citizen called the police.

“We knew this person was in Barcelona since the beginning of the week,” said Jane.