Cleric named as terror recruiter: [3 All-round Metro Edition]
Martin Chulov, John Stapleton. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 22 Mar 2004: 1.
Show highlighting
Abstract
THE Sydney-based Islamic preacher who married alleged terrorist Willie Brigitte and his Australian wife was named last night as thechief recruiter of an informal Australian terror network.
Sheikh Abdul Salam Mohammed Zoud, Imam of the Lakemba prayer room, strongly denied the claims and said that he met his accuser, Brigitte, only once.
Citing the dossier, prepared by French counter-terrorist judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere, the Telegraph said that Sheikh Zoud had contact with the alleged leader of Spain’s al-Qa’ida cell, Abu Dahdah, and a terror cell based in the US state of Virginia.
Full Text
THE Sydney-based Islamic preacher who married alleged terrorist Willie Brigitte and his Australian wife was named last night as thechief recruiter of an informal Australian terror network.
However, Sheikh Abdul Salam Mohammed Zoud, Imam of the Lakemba prayer room, strongly denied the claims and said that he met his accuser, Brigitte, only once.
Sheikh Zoud insisted the allegations, contained in a French intelligence dossier and published in Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph, were false.
He is not considered to be a person of interest to Australian authorities. Sheikh Zoud claims the only time he met Brigitte was when he married the Frenchman and Melanie Brown.
Citing the dossier, prepared by French counter-terrorist judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere, the Telegraph said that Sheikh Zoud had contact with the alleged leader of Spain’s al-Qa’ida cell, Abu Dahdah, and a terror cell based in the US state of Virginia.
“He denies the allegations,” said one of the sheikh’s relatives.
The Telegraph also published the name of a Sydney man alleged to have been Brigitte’s chief contact during his six months in Sydney, which ended with his deportation last October.
Stephen Hopper, the lawyer for the man, whose alias Abu Hamza has already been published, said: “I will be seeking instructions from my client first thing Monday morning.
Many of the details of the dossier have leaked in the four months since Brigitte’s detention in France.
However, the dossier contains several revelations, such as Brigitte’s alleged claim that he came to Australia to produce a “bomb of great size”.
The SAS base at Perth’s Swanbourne Barracks was also added to a list of mooted targets, which included the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor, the Garden Island Navy base and Holsworthy army barracks in Sydney.
The dossier claims that alleged Chechen bomb expert Abu Salah twice attempted to get to Australia.