Court finds 21 guilty of Madrid bombings ("Mastermind" acquitted)

The Financial Times (U.K.) ^ | October 31, 2007 | Leslie Crawford

[Stoat]

Court finds 21 guilty of Madrid bombings

By Leslie Crawford in Madrid

Published: October 31 2007 14:27 | Last updated: October 31 2007 14:27

A Spanish court on Wednesday convicted 21 people of involvement in the country’s worst terrorist attack, the 2004 Madrid train bombings that traumatised a nation three days before a general election. Seven of the defendants were acquitted, including an Egyptian accused of masterminding the attacks.

The March 11 bombings, which killed 191 commuters and injured more than 1,800 in the early morning rush hour, changed the course of Spanish politics. The conservative Popular party government suffered an unexpected defeat in a general election three days after the attacks. Since then, Spanish politics has been marked by bitterness, recriminations and bad faith, as the Popular party continued to insist that Eta, an outlawed Basque separatist group, and not Islamists, was behind the attacks.

The three judges presiding over the trial discredited that theory. “We found no proof that Eta was linked in any way to the attacks,” Judge Javier Gómez Bermudez, the presiding magistrate, told the court.

Judge Bermudez said the plotters belonged to a “jihadist” terrorist group that sought to overthrow western democracies.

Not all those who took part in the bombings were on trial. Seven bombers blew themselves up three weeks later, after police had surrounded their flat in a dormitory town south of Madrid. Two others fled Spain: one is in prison in Morocco and the other is believed to have died fighting in Iraq.

The court found three defendants, Jamal Zougam, Otman el Gnaoui and José Emilio Suárez Trashorras, guilty of “the murder of 191 people and two involuntary abortions”. Two of the women who died in the train bombings were pregnant at the time. The three men were also found guilty of conspiring to cause the deaths of 1,856 people injured in the attacks, and sentenced to several thousand years in jail, although under Spanish law, they will serve a maximum sentence of 40 years.

Seven defendants were acquitted, including Rabei Osman el Sayed, an Egyptian accused of masterminding the attacks. Mr Osman, a convicted terrorist who is in jail in Italy, allegedly bragged in a wiretapped conversation that the Madrid massacre had been his idea. But his defence lawyers argued that the tapes had been mistranslated.

Fourteen other defendants, mainly of north African origin, were found guilty of lesser charges, such as belonging to a terrorist group or forging documents.

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Spain’s Socialist prime minister, said justice had been done and called on the country’s political parties to bury their differences.

[Stoat]

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These photos from Fox News

Breaking News Latest News Current News - FOXNews.com

[skeeter]

Seven of the defendants were acquitted, including an Egyptian accused of masterminding the attacks.

Who did they convict - bombed commuters who used profanity?

[skeeter]

guilty of “the murder of 191 people and two involuntary abortions”.

And ya gotta love the subtle and oh so PC distinction the court made here. Disgusting poltroons.

[JerseyHighlander]

Aguilar, when you have the time, please update FR on this story.

[subterfuge]

Those wacky spaniards obviously don’t want to make muslims mad again.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

“serve a maximum sentence of 40 years.”
Stupid!

[Stoat]

The three men were also found guilty of conspiring to cause the deaths of 1,856 people injured in the attacks, and sentenced to several thousand years in jail, although under Spanish law, they will serve a maximum sentence of 40 years.

And with good behavior they should be out in time for Ramadan next year.

[Stoat]

Those wacky spaniards obviously don’t want to make muslims mad again.

The photos suggest that the defendants were having a jolly good time.

[LexBaird]

The three men were also found guilty of conspiring to cause the deaths of 1,856 people injured in the attacks, and sentenced to several thousand years in jail, although under Spanish law, they will serve a maximum sentence of 40 years.

The money quote. 40 years is the worst punishment the Spanish have.

I guess the Spanish Inquisition really IS reduced to threatening people with a comfy chair and soft pillows.

[Red6]

2005, 2006, 2007 almost 2008. These people have lived four more years than they should have.

Anything less than death is an insult to the victims, a symbol of moral cowardice and intelectual dishonesty. Societies to weak to act in the face of evil, have no justice anymore.

[Stoat]

I guess the Spanish Inquisition really IS reduced to threatening people with a comfy chair and soft pillows.

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•  Oct. 31: A defense lawyer shows a photograph to various suspects inside a glass cage at the national court in Madrid.
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And so where are the effects of the "waterboarding in secret CIA compounds" that we've been hearing about for for so long?

(not that I have a problem with that......)

[Stoat]

UPDATE:

Deep divisions over Madrid verdict csmonitor.com

Deep divisions over Madrid verdict

Some victims' families feel jilted by high court's decision Wednesday on the March 2004 train attack.

(edit)

For Raul Castilla, whose father died in the bombings, the ruling felt like an assault. "In this country, they let assassins loose on the streets."

Others, however, saw the trial as a successful imposition of justice. Unlike the United States, Spain did not have to draft new legislation to deal with Islamist terrorists. "We already had an efficient legal framework in place because of [Basque separatist group] ETA; we had the right laws to confront terrorism," says Rogelio Alonso, terrorism expert at Madrid's King Juan Carlos University. "This trial shows that those laws work."

(edit)

Debate over the justice of the sentence is already filling the Spanish media and may broaden the fissures in Spanish society that are the bombing's most dramatic legacy.

In the eyes of many Spaniards, the attacks paved the way for Prime Minister Zapatero's unexpected victory over the ruling conservative Popular Party. It was the first time an administration that backed the US-led war in Iraq was voted out of power. Many of the suspects allegedly were motivated by loyalties to Al Qaeda and anger at Spanish troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

(edit)

Prosecutors had also demanded nearly 39,000 years for Hassan el-Haski, charging him with being the suspected head in Europe of the Moroccan Islamic Combat Group, and fleeing Spain a few days before the attacks. But Mr. Haski received only 15 years. Seven of those on trial today – one suspect had already been exculpated – were absolved altogether.

Minutes after the verdict was concluded, Popular Party leader Mariano Rajoy released a statement that leaves the door open to more questions that could shape debate ahead of national elections slated for March 2008. "The accused have been condemned as intellectual authors" of the attacks, he said, adding that his party would support another investigation.

Leaders of the Popular Party have advanced conspiracy theories that implicated the Basque separatist group ETA in the bombings, and accused the government of covering up related evidence. Some charge that misleading statements about who was responsible for the attacks was a factor in the Socialist victory.

(edit)

As they crowded into the basement of a courtroom Wednesday to await the verdict, emotions among the family members of the victims ran high. Tears came easily, as did anger when some learned that there wasn't room for all of them in the courtroom. Victims' rights activist Pilar Manjon, whose son was killed, tried to animate her colleagues. "We're going to await this sentence with joy," she told the room to applause. "This is our verdict."

But after the sentencing, several of the victims' family members expressed exhaustion as it appeared political battles over the bombings would continue. "It's not about reprisals or revenge," says Jesus Ramirez, vice president of the Association of Those Affected by March 11. "It's about the fact that Spanish society needs resolution. The verdict wasn't sufficiently clear." His organization will appeal the ruling.

 

 

People embrace outside the High Court after hearing the verdicts of the 2004 Madrid train bombings. On Wednesday, Spanish judge found 21 people guilty of invovement in the bombings.
Susana Vera/Reuters
 

 

 

Mohamed Moussaten (r.), one of the 28 suspects originally accused of the 2004 Madrid train bombings, leaves the High Court free after hearing the verdicts. Six others were acquitted as well.
Susana Vera/Reuters
 

[Cacique]

Today Spain proved it is a Dhimi state. But why should we blame them? Israel every now and then releases Palestinian terrorists in it’s jails to placate the west, when they should be pushing up daisies. But are we any better? When putting underwear on someone’s head is considered torture? The west is dying by it’s own hand.

[J Aguilar]

We are still analyzing the sentence, which wasn't unexpected, among other things, because it was leaked by a magazine close to the CNI a month ago, as I informed here.

3/11: Bikers and Jews

From a first approach, the prison terms are low for the biggest massacre of Western Europe after Lockerbie (sentenced/asked by the State Attorneys):

Rabei Osman El Sayed - Acquitted/ 38.962 years

Hassan El Haski - 15/ 38.962 years

Youssef Belhadj - 12/ 38.962 years

Jamal Zougam - 42.922/ 38.960 years

Abdelmajid Bouchar - 18/ 38.960 years

Basel Ghalyoun - 12/ 12 years

Rafá Zouhier - 10/ 38.968 years

José Emilio Suárez Trashorras - 34.715/ 38.976 years

Antonio Toro Castro - Acquitted/ 23 years

Raúl González Peláez - 5/ 8 years

Carmen María Toro Castro - Acquitted/ 6 years

Emilio Llano Álvarez - Acquitted/ 5 years

Iván Granados Peña - Acquitted/ 4 years

Sergio Álvarez Sánchez - 3/ 4 years

Antonio Iván Reiss Palicio - 3/ 4 years

Javier González Díaz - Acquitted/ Indictment dropped

Otman El Gnaoui - 42.924/ 38.972 years

Mohamed Larbi Ben Sellam - 12/ 27 years

Hamid Ahmidan - 23/ 23 years and 6 months.

Rachid Aglif - 18/ 21 years

Nasreddine Bousbaa - 3/ 13 years

Mahmoud Slimane Aoun - 3/ 13 years

Fouad El Morabit El Amghar - 12/ 12 years

Mouhannad Almallah Dabas - 12/ 12 years

Abdelilah El Fadual El Akil - 9/ 12 years

Mohamed Bouharrat - 12/ 12 years

Saed El Harrak - 12/ 12 years

Mohamed Moussaten - Acquitted/ 6 years

Secondly, among the three individuals condemned to the longest penalties, there is a Christian, Suárez-Trashorras. It is striking for an alleged Islamist attack.

Third question, the explosive used is still unknown. The judges have sentenced those persons not knowing the weapon of the crime.

Fourth point, the judges have refused to condemn anyone as mastermind of the attack, neither Rabei Osman nor El Haski, who were accused of it, are found guilty of those charges.

Moreover, the judges have not step not only on who the mastermind of the attack was, but also the motivation of the perpetrators. Therefore, the judges haven't acknowledged that the attack was caused by the participation of Spain in the Iraqi operations, as the Left said, nor that it was Al Qaeda.

My opinion: it is a political sentence. You cannot analyze it from the point of view of Justice, but politics.

1. The judges have built a firewall around the members of the Spanish Security Forces that allegdly could be involved in the fabrication of evidence, accepting almost all evidences, no matter how bizarre origin had or questionable were. Absolute trust in ALL members our security forces, is the message.

2. The judges have avoided to declare the last National Elections a fraud, finding guilty Jamal Zougham -whose arrest along other four people never indicted changed the result of the elections- with far questionable evidence. The message is: the Spanish political system was not affected, it wasn't a coup d'etat.

It seems that to balance the sentence:

3. The judges have acquitted the persons indicted as masterminds of the attack, not following the Official Version and the State attorneys' opinions on the issue. The evidence against Rabei Osman melted down when it was discovered the Italian police have made an incorrect translation of telephone calls taped. However, other defendants were found guilty with almost as absurd evidence.

Therefore I infer that the judges haven't step into the mastermind of the attack and the motivation in order to balance, politically, the sentence. The judges are saying that it is not proved that the bombing happened because the war of Iraq, as the Left said, nor that it was an Al Qaeda operation.

The people seeking the Truth and Justice, the families of the victims, haven't got them, but the Judges did not let us go with empty hands:

4. The testimonies and contradictions of the members of the Spanish Security Forces have been very clarifying for us. The analyses ordered by Judge Bermúdez on what exploded on the trains gave us a lot of information of what was really going on. The judges have preferred to not distrust any of them, but as Judge Bermúdez himself said, there will be more trials on the case.