Protests at Arrest of Al-jazeera Reporter

Arab human rights groups expressed concern yesterday about Spain's detention of a former al-Jazeera correspondent in Kabul as a suspected al-Qaida member.

Tayssir Alouni, who is a Spanish citizen, was arrested by anti-terrorist police at his home in Alfacar, near Granada, on Friday, the day before he was due to fly to Qatar, where the TV station is located.

He is due to appear in court in Madrid today before Judge Baltasar Garzon, who ordered his arrest.

Yesterday the Syrian Human Rights Association demanded his release. Al-Jazeera is reported to have asked Amnesty International for its support.

Alouni's wife, Fatima, said that the arrest warrant had referred to an exclusive videotape he received from Osama bin Laden threatening major terrorist attacks, which was broadcast on al-Jazeera a few weeks after September 11.

The warrant accused him of using his journalistic credentials to cover up his activities as a messenger for al-Qaida.

"The communication was purely one way," she told El Mundo yesterday. "They gave the tape to him."

She said Alouni had treated as a joke claims in the Spanish newspapers that he was being watched by the anti-terrorist police. "He said it did not matter if he was being watched, because if he had had something to hide he would never have come to Spain," she said.

Alouni's heart specialist has warned that he could die if "exposed to physical or mental pressures".

Signs have emerged that al-Qaida and other Islamist groups may be exploiting the traffic in clandestine migrants across the Mediterranean.

Discussions were held between US and Italian ministers at the weekend on the most recent assessments of Islamist terrorism, particularly funding issues, "not excluding those linked to the traffic in clandestine immigrants".