Imam ‘ victim of € 1m blackmail plot’, court hears
Family at war over Costa Blanca terror charges
THE DAUGHTER of a Costa Blanca imam facing terrorism charges told a court a key prosecution witness – her brother – had lied to accuse her father of being an Islamic extremist.
She told judges in Madrid that the religious leader’s son had demanded € 1 million not to testify against the 50 year old and claim his father was involved in jihadist activities.
The son maintained Hesham Shashaa was involved in radicalising young Muslims and claimed he sent him to Pakistan to a terrorist training camp, saying jihad was good. The imam – who has four wives and 26 children – came to Alicante in 2011, living first in Benissa and in 2014 in a large home in Moraira. He previously lived in Romania and Germany and it is alleged he fled to Spain as his illicit activities came to the notice of the authorities.
At the trial, the prosecution has demanded a nineyear prison sentence claiming the imam spread a message of hate in mosques at Teulada, Calpe, Altea, Pedregeur, Gata de Gorgos, Almoradí and San Vicente del Raspeig.
It is further alleged Hesham, said to have rich patrons in the Middle East, was creating an undercover transit hub to help trained fighters return to Spain and other European countries from Syria and Iraq.
He was arrested at his home in April 2017 by armed police. However, giving evidence for her father, the daughter attacked her elder brother who she branded as a thief who stole from family and mosques – and days before the start of the trial demanded money not to testify for the prosecution.
She said: “I have messages on my mobile phone in which my brother threatened that he would testify against my father at the trial if we did not give him a million euros –
money that I do not have; but since his accusations are false, I would not give him a single cent in any case.”
The daughter told the court her brother’s life ‘ revolves around lies’ and he was a dedicated thief.
She said when they lived in Germany her parents travelled a great deal and it was decided in 2009 her brother should go to Pakistan to live with their uncle – her father’s brother, who worked in the Saudi Arabian embassy.
And she claimed the sibling was already stealing in Germany, continued in Pakistan – stealing jewellery from his uncles and money from mosques and neighbours.
He returned to Germany after a year before moving to Jordan in 2011 with his mother, and later moving to Venezuela alone.
The daughter said the family was integrated into society and the children were never radicalised their father helping the authorities prevent extremism spreading.
Giving evidence last week, Hesham told the court he was ‘ a man of peace’, who worked to ‘ avoid a repeat of M11’ – the 2004 terror attack on Madrid commuters that killed 193 people.
The trial continues.