REPORTER: Fanou Filali
Tangier, Morocco's famous port city. Since the Madrid bombings last March, Tangier is no longer a place where East and West happily meet. The city is now known as Morocco's capital of radical Islam.
JEAN-CHARLES BRISARD, CONSULTANT TO MADRID BOMB ENQUIRY: The army of jihad here in Morocco is much more motivated than in other Arab countries.
Most of the Moroccan suspects in recent terrorist attacks have ties with this place. One of the most important is Amer Azizi. He's the subject of several arrest warrants but remains on the run. He was charged only last April in Spain for his alleged role in helping plan the September 11 attacks on the US, he is also wanted by the Moroccan authorities for the Casablanca attacks in May last year. And now the Spanish police also want him for his role in coordinating the March 11 bombings in Madrid. We're on our way to Tlet el Ghnimyin, Amer Azizi's home village, 70 kilometres outside Casablanca.
OLD MAN: (Translation): Are you visiting the Azizis?
NAJIB: (Translation): Yes.
OLD MAN: (Translation): Do you know them? The market is here. You go straight. Keep going straight. After 1 or 1.5 kilometres, it's the house on the left.
NAJIB: (Translation): Thank you.
We're off to meet Amer Azizi's old friend Si Mohammed. He remembers Azizi as a Westernised reggae music lover and drug-taker.
SI MOHAMMED: (Translation): He smoked hash and drank beer with us. We had a good time that I still look back on. I wish those days could come again.
Just before we leave, he tells us that he cannot believe that his friend Azizi could turn into an Islamist terrorist.
SI MOHAMMED: (Translation): It can't be the Amer I know. God knows, it couldn't be him, I still don't believe it. Even if I see his photo in the newspaper I think it's a fake. I can't get it into my head that the good-natured Amer, the guy we used to see as a model of openness, openness to Europe and to Europeans, who dealt with them nicely - if it was Amer, something must be wrong in this world. The change in him would be unbelievable.
In his late teens, Azizi left for Spain. Si Mohammed believes it was during his stay in Spain that his friend embraced radical Islam.
SI MOHAMMED: (Translation): He'd become a different Amer. He couldn't understand us. We felt there was a gap between us, he kept saying, this is a sin, this is a sin. We became distant. The new Amer had become a total stranger.
When he first arrived in Spain, Azizi spent much of his time among the small-time drug dealers and petty criminals in Barrio del Pilar, a drop-in point in Madrid for most Moroccan migrants, legal or not.
MAN 1: (Translation): When you're working you don't see much.
MAN 2: (Translation): He doesn't work, he's a clothes thief.
MAN 1: (Translation): And that guy there works with me. He's the one who steals the clothes. That's his friend. He's the one I send to steal.
MAN 3: (Translation): As far as I know, he was a good man. What's wrong with him? I don't know. I only used to say hello, no more.
MAN 1: (Translation): As a person? He's a good person. But if he has changed radically now...
Later on, Amer Azizi began to pray at the Islamic cultural centre in Madrid.
IMAM, DR EL MESSERY: (Translation): Islam has brought up the Muslims to have the finest of ethics and to do the best of deeds.
The mosque recently came under scrutiny. Many suspects in the Madrid bombings were regulars here. But the imam, Dr El Messery, is now trying to distance himself from the events.
IMAM, DR EL MESSERY: (Translation): My job is to protect my mosque and centre from any extremist ideology that wants to sneak into it. I have issued a religious ruling that it is the duty of any Muslim if they know a crime is going to happen they should report it before it takes place.
Azizi became a regular at the mosque and in the late '90s it was clear his religious beliefs had become more radical. In June 2000, he interrupted a memorial service for the late Syrian president Hafez El Assad, who, fundamentalists argue, betrayed Islam. Mosque spokesperson Mohammed El Affifi.
MOHAMMED EL AFFIFI, MOSQUE SPOKESPERSON: (Translation): He just got agitated because he considered that Hafez El Assad wasn't worthy of this memorial prayer. That's why he got agitated. But we reject such behaviour because it is not anyone's business to decide on these matters and we don't allow it. That's it.
After the falling-out, Azizi left this congregation to seek out more radical Islamic prayer halls. This is where he started to mingle with the more extreme elements of the Madrid Muslim community. It was during that time that Azizi became active in terrorist circles. Dateline has a copy of Spain's major anti-terrorism report written by Judge Baltazar Garzon. In these 600 pages, Azizi is mentioned frequently. Scores of phone calls with Abu Dahdah, the alleged leader of Spain's al-Qa'ida cell, are summarised. They make it clear that Azizi wasn't just a foot soldier. He was Abu Dahdah's right-hand man.
ANTON ENUS ON SBS NEWS: Terror attack in the heart of Madrid. Several bombs tear through commuter trains, killing more than 60.
Four months after the carnage, the identity of the mastermind is still unclear, but investigators are convinced of Azizi's involvement.
JEAN-CHARLES BRISARD: The Spanish Government is today trying to draw links and to understand the full picture. The full picture include Azizi.
Jean Charles Brisard is an independent intelligence consultant brought into the Madrid inquiry because he's the lead investigator for the 9/11 lawsuit. He says Azizi had been in frequent contact with many of the Madrid bomb suspects in the weeks leading up to the bombings. One of the more important is Jamal Zougam, a Moroccan arrested two days after the March 11 tragedy in Madrid.
REPORTER: What evidence have you got of his potential involvement in March 11?
JEAN-CHARLES BRISARD: The evidence is frequent contacts very soon prior to March 11 with several of the suspected individuals in these bombings, including Zougam.
REPORTER: By contacts you mean phone contacts or physical contacts?
JEAN-CHARLES BRISARD: Yes, phone contacts. We also know that he - as far as I know, he also came physically to meet several individuals in Morocco and in Spain.
REPORTER: Before March 11?
JEAN-CHARLES BRISARD: Yes, before March 11, and it is suspected that these contacts were made precisely for the March 11 bombings.
Azizi's connections to terrorist circles were not limited to Spain, but extended to al-Qa'ida cells in Germany and the Middle East.
JEAN-CHARLES BRISARD: I believe that Azizi is close from several entities that are - at least it's our assessment they are relating to one single network, terrorist network, which is the network of Zarqawi.
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is the man the Americans hold responsible for the beheadings and recent wave of terrorism in Iraq. And Azizi is believed to have joined the ranks of Zarqawi's insurgents. To try and understand how an ordinary Moroccan boy could turn into one of Europe's most wanted terrorists, we track down Azizi's mother in the field near the family house back in Azizi's home village.
FATNA AZIZI, MOTHER: (Translation): I've been to the haj. I wouldn't lie. I didn't know my son very well. Would I lie to you?
NAJIB: (Translation): You miss him?
FATNA AZIZI: (Translation): Wait until I take this off.
NAJIB: (Translation): You look just fine like that. Tell me, how long since you've seen him? When was he last here? Last summer? Yes. Last summer?
FATNA AZIZI, (Translation): No, not last summer. Let me tell you when... My son will come soon and he knows. I wouldn't lie.
NAJIB: (Translation): Is he the youngest?
FATNA AZIZI, (Translation): Yes.
NAJIB: (Translation): Do you miss him?
FATNA AZIZI, (Translation): A lot, a lot. Peace be with you. This is my other son's wife.
NAJIB: (Translation): Hello.
DAUGHTER-IN LAW, (Translation): Welcome.
Abdelaziz is Amer Azizi's elder brother. He tells us about Azizi's early life, a tough one, given that he was raised without either parent.
ABDELAZIZ, (Translation): My father died when Amer was six months old. One of our brothers couldn't have children so mother gave Amer to him to raise. He went to school at that time but I don't remember if he finished high school. He spent two years with us. He used to smoke hashish.
In the late '80s, Azizi, now almost 20, left for Spain and lost contact with his family for seven years. When he came back, he brought a friend with him - a Spanish man called Jose.
ABDELAZIZ, (Translation): Please, can you bring Jose's photo? This is him.
NAJIB: (Translation): Is that him?
ABDELAZIZ, (Translation): That's him. When he was here he used to drink too much beer.
Investigator Jean Charles Brisard says the Spanish man in question is none other than Jose Galan Gonzales, or Yusuf Galan, another important al-Qa'ida operative.
JEAN-CHARLES BRISARD: Yusuf Galan is important in the al-Qa'ida cell. He's the one who makes the link with Jemaah Islamiah and especially with someone named Parlindungan, usually referred to as Parlin by these individuals.
Parlindungan Siregar is an Indonesian. He's the commander of an Islamic military training camp in Poso, on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, and Yusuf Galan used to send him new recruits. One of them was Moroccan Amer Azizi.
JEAN-CHARLES BRISARD: So in this document, which is part of the investigation, the first al-Qa'ida cell which was dismantled in Spain, we can see that other individuals were attending these camps, and they mention Amer Azizi.
According to this document, details found in the camp's registry prove that Azizi trained in Poso for some time. When they searched Azizi's flat in Madrid, the police found three maps of Poso and a copy of a letter addressed to Yusuf Galan. The author is Parlindungan Siregar. In the letter, Siregar appeals for money.
PARLINDUNGAN SIREGAR, LETTER: Right now we need funds to carry out the jihad. Today we will have to return 10 home-made rifles (of the better ones) because we don't have money to pay for them. (Each costs 10,000 pts) And if we have the rifles, we don't have the bullets. You people can do a lot for us here. For just 5 million pts, we could buy a 200-hectare island that could be very useful, but our main need right now is weapons.
The presence of this letter in Azizi's flat convinced the Spanish police of his direct involvement in raising funds for the Indonesian camp. It wasn't long before Amer Azizi had gone from foot soldier to fundraiser and then recruiter himself.
JEAN-CHARLES BRISARD: Oh, he appears in the investigators' files as the one involved in the preparation and the recruitment of people to be trained in Indonesia.
Towards the end of 2001, Azizi was under 24-hour surveillance by the Spanish police. This was part of Operation Datil, a sweep against radical Islamic circles, ordered by Judge Baltazar Garzon. While Abu Dahdah and Yusuf Galan did not manage to escape the dragnet, Azizi did. Jose Manuel Sanchez Fornet is the secretary-general of the biggest police union in Spain. He believes Spanish intelligence blew the cover of the police surveillance on Azizi.
JOSE MANUEL SANCHEZ FORNET, POLICE UNION: (Translation): When we were filming Amer Azizi's home because we knew he was inside two agents from the National Intelligence Centre went to that address to carry out some routine monitoring and obviously he realised he was being watched. He then fled and we haven't had news of him since November 2001, at least in Spain. I don't know if he's been spotted in other countries but he's vanished from Spain.
The terrorist attacks have not just left intense personal grief in Spain. They've exposed an extraordinary lack of coordination between intelligence agencies within Spain and in the region.
JEAN-CHARLES BRISARD: It's true that almost more than half of the individuals involved in this Spanish cell that committed the March 11 bombings was known before by at least five countries - in Europe plus Morocco. Some warnings were sent. These warnings were in connection with individuals, not with specific plots or potential plots. It's true that most of these warnings were ignored as such because they intervened just right after the May 2003 bombings in Casablanca and I've been told - and it was said, I think - that most of these warnings were put under the global denomination of Moroccan paranoia.
This dismissal of intelligence warnings as paranoia is particularly galling to the Moroccans. They feel they've been unfairly blamed for exporting terrorism to Europe.
ANTI-TERRORISM INTELLIGENCE OFFICER: (Translation): They blame Morocco for exporting terrorism but can't control events in their country.
The voice on this recording is from Morocco's top anti-terrorism intelligence officer. For security reasons, he cannot be identified. He allowed this recording on a dictaphone in his office. He denies Morocco's responsibility in the bombings.
ANTI-TERRORISM INTELLIGENCE OFFICER: (Translation): All those people went to Spain, they were recruited in Spain, not here. Did the planning happen in Morocco? No. It happened in a farm about 30 kilometres outside Madrid. The target was Spanish. So the Moroccan part comes down to the fact that they have Moroccan passports.
Back in Amer Azizi's home village, a similar sense of disbelief - and even denial - prevails. Moroccans simply refuse to be tarred with the label of terrorism.
SI MOHAMMED, (Translation): Moroccans are tolerant people. We are peaceful people. History is a witness. From the time of the Romans to the Portuguese, the Spanish, the French - we never wronged anyone we didn't like, even if we liked them but they didn't like us. Even if they wronged us, we forgave them. We are tolerant and peaceful.
Tangier, Morocco's famous port city. Since the Madrid bombings last March, Tangier is no longer a place where East and West happily meet. The city is now known as Morocco's capital of radical Islam.
JEAN-CHARLES BRISARD, CONSULTANT TO MADRID BOMB ENQUIRY: The army of jihad here in Morocco is much more motivated than in other Arab countries.
Most of the Moroccan suspects in recent terrorist attacks have ties with this place. One of the most important is Amer Azizi. He's the subject of several arrest warrants but remains on the run. He was charged only last April in Spain for his alleged role in helping plan the September 11 attacks on the US, he is also wanted by the Moroccan authorities for the Casablanca attacks in May last year. And now the Spanish police also want him for his role in coordinating the March 11 bombings in Madrid. We're on our way to Tlet el Ghnimyin, Amer Azizi's home village, 70 kilometres outside Casablanca.
OLD MAN: (Translation): Are you visiting the Azizis?
NAJIB: (Translation): Yes.
OLD MAN: (Translation): Do you know them? The market is here. You go straight. Keep going straight. After 1 or 1.5 kilometres, it's the house on the left.
NAJIB: (Translation): Thank you.
We're off to meet Amer Azizi's old friend Si Mohammed. He remembers Azizi as a Westernised reggae music lover and drug-taker.
SI MOHAMMED: (Translation): He smoked hash and drank beer with us. We had a good time that I still look back on. I wish those days could come again.
Just before we leave, he tells us that he cannot believe that his friend Azizi could turn into an Islamist terrorist.
SI MOHAMMED: (Translation): It can't be the Amer I know. God knows, it couldn't be him, I still don't believe it. Even if I see his photo in the newspaper I think it's a fake. I can't get it into my head that the good-natured Amer, the guy we used to see as a model of openness, openness to Europe and to Europeans, who dealt with them nicely - if it was Amer, something must be wrong in this world. The change in him would be unbelievable.
In his late teens, Azizi left for Spain. Si Mohammed believes it was during his stay in Spain that his friend embraced radical Islam.
SI MOHAMMED: (Translation): He'd become a different Amer. He couldn't understand us. We felt there was a gap between us, he kept saying, this is a sin, this is a sin. We became distant. The new Amer had become a total stranger.
When he first arrived in Spain, Azizi spent much of his time among the small-time drug dealers and petty criminals in Barrio del Pilar, a drop-in point in Madrid for most Moroccan migrants, legal or not.
MAN 1: (Translation): When you're working you don't see much.
MAN 2: (Translation): He doesn't work, he's a clothes thief.
MAN 1: (Translation): And that guy there works with me. He's the one who steals the clothes. That's his friend. He's the one I send to steal.
MAN 3: (Translation): As far as I know, he was a good man. What's wrong with him? I don't know. I only used to say hello, no more.
MAN 1: (Translation): As a person? He's a good person. But if he has changed radically now...
Later on, Amer Azizi began to pray at the Islamic cultural centre in Madrid.
IMAM, DR EL MESSERY: (Translation): Islam has brought up the Muslims to have the finest of ethics and to do the best of deeds.
The mosque recently came under scrutiny. Many suspects in the Madrid bombings were regulars here. But the imam, Dr El Messery, is now trying to distance himself from the events.
IMAM, DR EL MESSERY: (Translation): My job is to protect my mosque and centre from any extremist ideology that wants to sneak into it. I have issued a religious ruling that it is the duty of any Muslim if they know a crime is going to happen they should report it before it takes place.
Azizi became a regular at the mosque and in the late '90s it was clear his religious beliefs had become more radical. In June 2000, he interrupted a memorial service for the late Syrian president Hafez El Assad, who, fundamentalists argue, betrayed Islam. Mosque spokesperson Mohammed El Affifi.
MOHAMMED EL AFFIFI, MOSQUE SPOKESPERSON: (Translation): He just got agitated because he considered that Hafez El Assad wasn't worthy of this memorial prayer. That's why he got agitated. But we reject such behaviour because it is not anyone's business to decide on these matters and we don't allow it. That's it.
After the falling-out, Azizi left this congregation to seek out more radical Islamic prayer halls. This is where he started to mingle with the more extreme elements of the Madrid Muslim community. It was during that time that Azizi became active in terrorist circles. Dateline has a copy of Spain's major anti-terrorism report written by Judge Baltazar Garzon. In these 600 pages, Azizi is mentioned frequently. Scores of phone calls with Abu Dahdah, the alleged leader of Spain's al-Qa'ida cell, are summarised. They make it clear that Azizi wasn't just a foot soldier. He was Abu Dahdah's right-hand man.
ANTON ENUS ON SBS NEWS: Terror attack in the heart of Madrid. Several bombs tear through commuter trains, killing more than 60.
Four months after the carnage, the identity of the mastermind is still unclear, but investigators are convinced of Azizi's involvement.
JEAN-CHARLES BRISARD: The Spanish Government is today trying to draw links and to understand the full picture. The full picture include Azizi.
Jean Charles Brisard is an independent intelligence consultant brought into the Madrid inquiry because he's the lead investigator for the 9/11 lawsuit. He says Azizi had been in frequent contact with many of the Madrid bomb suspects in the weeks leading up to the bombings. One of the more important is Jamal Zougam, a Moroccan arrested two days after the March 11 tragedy in Madrid.
REPORTER: What evidence have you got of his potential involvement in March 11?
JEAN-CHARLES BRISARD: The evidence is frequent contacts very soon prior to March 11 with several of the suspected individuals in these bombings, including Zougam.
REPORTER: By contacts you mean phone contacts or physical contacts?
JEAN-CHARLES BRISARD: Yes, phone contacts. We also know that he - as far as I know, he also came physically to meet several individuals in Morocco and in Spain.
REPORTER: Before March 11?
JEAN-CHARLES BRISARD: Yes, before March 11, and it is suspected that these contacts were made precisely for the March 11 bombings.
Azizi's connections to terrorist circles were not limited to Spain, but extended to al-Qa'ida cells in Germany and the Middle East.
JEAN-CHARLES BRISARD: I believe that Azizi is close from several entities that are - at least it's our assessment they are relating to one single network, terrorist network, which is the network of Zarqawi.
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is the man the Americans hold responsible for the beheadings and recent wave of terrorism in Iraq. And Azizi is believed to have joined the ranks of Zarqawi's insurgents. To try and understand how an ordinary Moroccan boy could turn into one of Europe's most wanted terrorists, we track down Azizi's mother in the field near the family house back in Azizi's home village.
FATNA AZIZI, MOTHER: (Translation): I've been to the haj. I wouldn't lie. I didn't know my son very well. Would I lie to you?
NAJIB: (Translation): You miss him?
FATNA AZIZI: (Translation): Wait until I take this off.
NAJIB: (Translation): You look just fine like that. Tell me, how long since you've seen him? When was he last here? Last summer? Yes. Last summer?
FATNA AZIZI, (Translation): No, not last summer. Let me tell you when... My son will come soon and he knows. I wouldn't lie.
NAJIB: (Translation): Is he the youngest?
FATNA AZIZI, (Translation): Yes.
NAJIB: (Translation): Do you miss him?
FATNA AZIZI, (Translation): A lot, a lot. Peace be with you. This is my other son's wife.
NAJIB: (Translation): Hello.
DAUGHTER-IN LAW, (Translation): Welcome.
Abdelaziz is Amer Azizi's elder brother. He tells us about Azizi's early life, a tough one, given that he was raised without either parent.
ABDELAZIZ, (Translation): My father died when Amer was six months old. One of our brothers couldn't have children so mother gave Amer to him to raise. He went to school at that time but I don't remember if he finished high school. He spent two years with us. He used to smoke hashish.
In the late '80s, Azizi, now almost 20, left for Spain and lost contact with his family for seven years. When he came back, he brought a friend with him - a Spanish man called Jose.
ABDELAZIZ, (Translation): Please, can you bring Jose's photo? This is him.
NAJIB: (Translation): Is that him?
ABDELAZIZ, (Translation): That's him. When he was here he used to drink too much beer.
Investigator Jean Charles Brisard says the Spanish man in question is none other than Jose Galan Gonzales, or Yusuf Galan, another important al-Qa'ida operative.
JEAN-CHARLES BRISARD: Yusuf Galan is important in the al-Qa'ida cell. He's the one who makes the link with Jemaah Islamiah and especially with someone named Parlindungan, usually referred to as Parlin by these individuals.
Parlindungan Siregar is an Indonesian. He's the commander of an Islamic military training camp in Poso, on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, and Yusuf Galan used to send him new recruits. One of them was Moroccan Amer Azizi.
JEAN-CHARLES BRISARD: So in this document, which is part of the investigation, the first al-Qa'ida cell which was dismantled in Spain, we can see that other individuals were attending these camps, and they mention Amer Azizi.
According to this document, details found in the camp's registry prove that Azizi trained in Poso for some time. When they searched Azizi's flat in Madrid, the police found three maps of Poso and a copy of a letter addressed to Yusuf Galan. The author is Parlindungan Siregar. In the letter, Siregar appeals for money.
PARLINDUNGAN SIREGAR, LETTER: Right now we need funds to carry out the jihad. Today we will have to return 10 home-made rifles (of the better ones) because we don't have money to pay for them. (Each costs 10,000 pts) And if we have the rifles, we don't have the bullets. You people can do a lot for us here. For just 5 million pts, we could buy a 200-hectare island that could be very useful, but our main need right now is weapons.
The presence of this letter in Azizi's flat convinced the Spanish police of his direct involvement in raising funds for the Indonesian camp. It wasn't long before Amer Azizi had gone from foot soldier to fundraiser and then recruiter himself.
JEAN-CHARLES BRISARD: Oh, he appears in the investigators' files as the one involved in the preparation and the recruitment of people to be trained in Indonesia.
Towards the end of 2001, Azizi was under 24-hour surveillance by the Spanish police. This was part of Operation Datil, a sweep against radical Islamic circles, ordered by Judge Baltazar Garzon. While Abu Dahdah and Yusuf Galan did not manage to escape the dragnet, Azizi did. Jose Manuel Sanchez Fornet is the secretary-general of the biggest police union in Spain. He believes Spanish intelligence blew the cover of the police surveillance on Azizi.
JOSE MANUEL SANCHEZ FORNET, POLICE UNION: (Translation): When we were filming Amer Azizi's home because we knew he was inside two agents from the National Intelligence Centre went to that address to carry out some routine monitoring and obviously he realised he was being watched. He then fled and we haven't had news of him since November 2001, at least in Spain. I don't know if he's been spotted in other countries but he's vanished from Spain.
The terrorist attacks have not just left intense personal grief in Spain. They've exposed an extraordinary lack of coordination between intelligence agencies within Spain and in the region.
JEAN-CHARLES BRISARD: It's true that almost more than half of the individuals involved in this Spanish cell that committed the March 11 bombings was known before by at least five countries - in Europe plus Morocco. Some warnings were sent. These warnings were in connection with individuals, not with specific plots or potential plots. It's true that most of these warnings were ignored as such because they intervened just right after the May 2003 bombings in Casablanca and I've been told - and it was said, I think - that most of these warnings were put under the global denomination of Moroccan paranoia.
This dismissal of intelligence warnings as paranoia is particularly galling to the Moroccans. They feel they've been unfairly blamed for exporting terrorism to Europe.
ANTI-TERRORISM INTELLIGENCE OFFICER: (Translation): They blame Morocco for exporting terrorism but can't control events in their country.
The voice on this recording is from Morocco's top anti-terrorism intelligence officer. For security reasons, he cannot be identified. He allowed this recording on a dictaphone in his office. He denies Morocco's responsibility in the bombings.
ANTI-TERRORISM INTELLIGENCE OFFICER: (Translation): All those people went to Spain, they were recruited in Spain, not here. Did the planning happen in Morocco? No. It happened in a farm about 30 kilometres outside Madrid. The target was Spanish. So the Moroccan part comes down to the fact that they have Moroccan passports.
Back in Amer Azizi's home village, a similar sense of disbelief - and even denial - prevails. Moroccans simply refuse to be tarred with the label of terrorism.
SI MOHAMMED, (Translation): Moroccans are tolerant people. We are peaceful people. History is a witness. From the time of the Romans to the Portuguese, the Spanish, the French - we never wronged anyone we didn't like, even if we liked them but they didn't like us. Even if they wronged us, we forgave them. We are tolerant and peaceful.