[Stoat]

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These photos from Fox News

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[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.

[subterfuge]

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

[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.

[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.

[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.