The Spanish authorities detained Tayssir Allony, Al-Jazeera TV channel correspondent, on the 5th of September 2004 on the background of his alleged relation with Al Qa’eda, upon an interview he managed to have with Osama Ben Laden in Afghanistan!!

The detention of Allony came after many attempts by Western & American investigation Agencies to make Allony give information regarding the place of Osama Ibn Laden.

Allony had worked as a correspondent for Al-Jazeera TV in Afghanistan at the time when the  channel’s building was bombed by UK forces in Kabul.  He then worked in Iraq, where again the channel’s office was bombed by US forces, at which time Allony witnessed the death of his colleague Tarrek Auob, while he himself suffered massive cardiac embolism that called for immediate angioplasty. Since Allony had no fast access to hospital, his cardiac muscle was badly affected by the vascular incident.

Allony, who holds the Spanish nationality and lives with his family in Spain, also worked as a translator in the Arabic sector of the Spanish news agency, and is an active member in the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies in Granada, an organization which works on conflict resolution methods all over the world.

El-Nadim center is concerned regarding the role played by the US administration, which pressured the Spanish government to detain Allony. The Spanish Prosecutor General had recommended the release of Allony and the drop of all charges against him. However, the Spanish authorities discarded this recommendation. In view of his deteriorating health condition, Allony submitted an appeal to release him on bail until the completion of the judiciary procedures. However, the national court rejected the appeal and decided to send medical doctors to confirm the nature of his illness and to study the prison’s facilities to provide him with the necessary health care, neither of which took place. Allony is lacking all medical care for his condition, which includes his threatening heart condition in addition to a slip disc.

El Nadim Center has learned about the deteriorating physical and psychological health condition of Allony secondary to his conditions of detention, which include extreme cold, lack of health care, the difficulty of receiving family visits and his deprivation of mixing with other inmates.

El Nadim center wishes to draw your attention to the following:

1-      Allony has been victim to a groundless, prolonged detention.

2-      The Prosecutor’s recommendation to drop all charges against him was ignored.

3-      Allony is detained according to exceptional law and is deprived of resort to natural judiciary

4-      Bad prison conditions and lack of health care.

El Nadim Center calls upon all human rights organizations to appeal to the Spanish government to

-     Immediately release Tayssir Allony based on his address of residence so that he can undergo the cardiac catheter which was scheduled around the time of his detention.

-    Present Allony to the natural judiciary in a public trial satisfying conditions of objectivity and transparency.

-   Abide by international principles and conventions regarding freedom of the press and all other human rights conventions foremost the rights of people in detention.

For the Psychological Management and Rehabilitation of Violence Victims

Eskan Maarouf, Blgd.B, Apt.#94 – Sheikh Maarouf street – CairoTelfax: (+202) 5755953, 5795035

E-mail: nadeem@link.net; website: www.hrinfo.net/egypt/nadeem