Expert says authorities ignoring increasing extremism at Spanish Mosques

Madrid, Spain, Jul 15, 2004 / 22:00 pm

The director of the Institute for the Study of Conflicts and Humanitarian Action in Spain, Jesus Nuñez Diaz, criticized Spanish authorities this week for “closing their eyes” to the increasing Islamic extremism that is being fostered at several Mosques in the country.

According to Nuñez Diaz, one such mosque in Madrid, which is financed by Saudi Arabia and is the second largest in the Europe, teaches Wahabism, a radical Muslim philosophy adhered to by one of the authors of the March 11 attacks in Madrid.

Likewise, Nuñez Diaz denounced the “permissiveness” in Spain prior to 9-11 with respect to radical Muslims because of the fact they did not attack the country, although it was known that they used Spain as a base for attacks in countries.

In his documented presentation, Nuñez Diaz warned that Islamic international terrorism “is a real threat.”

He emphasized that “all countries, whether or not they have troops in Iraq,” are on Al Qaeda’s list.  In this sense, he pointed out that “even though we are no longer in Iraq, we are still on that list.”

He said terrorists chose Spain because it was an “easy” target and he recalled that one of the strategies of the Bin Laden network is to launch attacks coinciding with elections. 

Nuñez Diaz said he agreed with sociologist Manuel Castells Olivan that the answer to international terrorism “should not be a military one,” but instead a tighter grip on financial sources in order to dry up the economic channels used by Al Qaeda.

Castells believes it would be a “serious mistake” for the government to censor the preaching of Muslim clerics, since that “would be an invitation to radicalization rather than a solution.”  In his judgment, the Muslim community should be responsible for reigning in radical clerics.

Lastly, Castells warned that “March 11 will not be last attack on Spain by Al Qaeda.”