Muslim fighter begins testimony in Bosnia trial

By Daria Sito-Sucic

SARAJEVO (Reuters) - A former al Qaeda member who led a group of Muslim volunteers in Bosnia's 1992-95 war told war crimes prosecutors on Friday that his unit, accused of atrocities, was in close contact with the Bosnian Muslim army.

The testimony of Bahraini-born Ali Ahmed Ali Hamad is key in the trial of Rasim Delic, the highest-ranking Bosnian Muslim army officer indicted by the United Nations war crimes tribunal.

He is accused of knowing that the foreign fighters killed, tortured and raped Croat and Serb soldiers and civilians, and of having failed to punish them.

Hundreds of volunteers, or mujahideen, came from North Africa and the Middle East to support the Bosnian Muslims in their fight against Bosnia's Serbs and Croats. Hamad was in the El Mujaheed unit, which was notorious for wartime atrocities.

"We received orders only from our mujahideen chiefs but this does not mean that we acted on our own, rather in coordination with the Bosnian army, after our officers agreed," said Hamad, serving a 12-year prison sentence for his role in a car bombing.

Because of his prison term, the Hague court temporarily moved its seat to Sarajevo especially for the three-day hearing, which is due to conclude on Sunday.

Hamad said that upon his arrival in Bosnia in 1992 he was received by a Bosnian army officer who told him that foreign fighters were under his authority, gave him a uniform and guns and sent him to the field. He said al Qaeda sent him to Bosnia.

"The relations between Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) and mujahideen were very good," Hamad said in fluent Bosnian.

He illustrated this with the fact that the number of foreign fighters increased to about 1,500 in 1993, from less than 100 the year before.

Soft-spoken, and dressed in a smart suit and tie, Hamad says he fought with al Qaeda in Afghanistan in 1991-92.

Hamad confirmed that he had contacts with Bosnian Muslim army officers when commanding his unit in 1993.

He specifically mentioned General Mehmed Alagic, who was also indicted by the U.N. war crimes tribunal, but died before his trial ended. Two other Muslim generals who were indicted along with him were found guilty.

Hamad was jailed in 1998 for his involvement in a car-bomb attack in Mostar, a town split between Croats and Muslims.