Trial Begins for Alleged Bin Laden Recruiters

The trial of three North Africans charged with giving logistical support to the Al Qaeda terrorist network began under tight security Friday.

The trial comes a year after the defendants were arrested in Milan in Italy’s first major anti-terrorism crackdown after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The men are accused of criminal association, possession of arms and explosives, and of supplying false documents to members of Al Qaeda.

Investigators said the four are not directly connected to the Sept. 11 attacks but recruited fighters to train in Osama bin Laden’s camps in Afghanistan.

Yassine Chekkouri, a Moroccan, and Abdelhalim Hafed Remadna of Algeria worked at Milan’s Islamic Cultural Center, which the U.S. government has described as the main Al Qaeda cell in Europe.

The two men sat behind bars in an iron cage in court, surrounded by six prison guards.

The third defendant, Nabil Benattia of Tunisia, believed to have been a frequent visitor to the Islamic center, sat in a separate cage.

Also listed as a defendant was Abdelkader Mahmoud Es Sayed, an Egyptian, described by police as the organizer of the Milan cell. Police believe he died while fighting for Bin Laden in Afghanistan, but he is being tried in absentia because his death has not been confirmed.

Stefano Dambruoso, Italy’s leading anti-terrorism prosecutor, arrived at the courthouse protected by a security detail carrying submachine guns.

Most of the opening hearing was devoted to defense objections about the validity of documents from European investigators who are looking into terrorist networks’ links to Europe.