"The Mujahideens can't be terrorists because Islam is the religion of peace"

A man accused of posting videos on the internet and of writing more than 1,500 comments on the web allegedly glorifying Al-Qaeda, named Gonzalo López Royo, defended last Monday in a court hearing, that a "mujahideen can never be a terrorist", because "Islam is the religion of peace". He compared mujaheedins with "Bosnians who defended their home, their wife and their sons".

State Prosecutor Teresa Sandoval has asked for an 18-months prison term for López Royo and for Fath Allah Sadaq, also at court hearing this Monday, for "glorifying, justifying and giving publicity to Islamist terrorist organizations, persons and deeds" since 2006 in an English-speaking website. Despite it being of restricted access, it had, at least, 1,300 users per year", according to an expert from the Civil Guard. The defense attorney is asking for a full acquittal of both defendants.

Both websurfers, of Spanish and Moroccan nationality respectively, acknowledged they publicized comments and posted videos about Al-Qaeda, Bin Laden and Islamic Jihad, although, according to Mr. López Royo's statement, his intention "was not to support damaging anyone, but to comment news in a positive and constructive way, not glorifying anyone who is a bad guy".

On the other hand, Mr. Allah Sadaq assured that he wanted to fight against "US censorship in the Iraqi war", because Al-Qaeda was an interested part in the conflict and "also the only source of information". He added he didn't know he was committing a crime and that, when he knew it, he erased the images, three months before being arrested.

According to the State Prosecutor's provisional conclusions, Mr. López Royo wrote about 1,500 comments claiming for the constitution of a Caiphate in Spain. He also acknowledged being the author of several drawings which were included in a video that Mr. Allah Sadaq made in June 2008 honoring Abu Mussab Al-Zarqawi, Al-Qaeda leader killed in Iraq.

Read more in the link above.

The psychiatric report on López Royo says that he "wanted to move away from mediocrity". Aren't there other ways to grow personally and professionally than glorifying Al-Qaeda and asking for a Caliphate?