BELGIUM: Final appeal by three men found guilty of helping militants associated with Madrid and Casablanca bombings is heard in a Brussels court

Final appeal by three men found guilty of helping militants associated with Madrid and Casablanca bombings is heard in a Brussels court. The men belonged to a cell of the GICM, an organisation listed by the United States as a terrorist group whose aim is to establish an Islamic state in Morocco and to support al Qaeda's struggle against Western countries. Three men convicted by a Belgian court of helping a militant Islamist group linked to bombings in Madrid and Casablanca had their final appeal cases heard on Friday (January 19). The cases of Lahoussine El Haski, Abdallah Ouabour et Khalid Bouloudo were still in session at 1600 GMT. The first two were accused of leading the 'sleeping' cell of the GICM (Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group) and the third of being an active member. Five of 11 defendants found guilty in November 2005 of helping the militant Islamist group linked to the bombings appealed their sentences. The defendants received jail sentences of up to seven years last month for belonging to a cell of the (GICM) and providing false papers and other logistical help to group members elsewhere in Europe. Abdelkadar Hakim and El Mostapha El Abdeslami, who also appealed, were not in the court. The defendants are all Moroccan or Belgian with Moroccan origins. The GICM has been linked to the Madrid train bombings of March 2004 which killed 191 people. The group has also been linked to the 2003 attacks in Casablanca which killed 45 people, among them 12 suicide bombers. Known by its French acronym, the GICM is listed by the United States as a terrorist group whose aim is to establish an Islamic state in Morocco and to support al Qaeda's struggle against Western countries.

ITN Source | January 20, 2007

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