SPAIN/FILE: Spanish judge finds 21 people guilty of involvement in the 2004 Madrid train bombings which killed 191 people

A judge in Madrid finds 21 people guilty of involvement in the 2004 Islamist bombings of Madrid trains which killed 191 people in Europe's deadliest al Qaeda inspired attack. A Spanish court on Wednesday (October 31) found 21 people guilty of involvement in the 2004 Madrid train bombings which killed 191 people but the alleged masterminds were cleared of plotting Europe's deadliest Islamist attack. Moroccans Jamal Zougam and Othman el Gnaoui were each sentenced to more than 40,000 years in prison for the bombings, although under Spanish law they can only serve a maximum of 40. Zougam and Gnaoui were convicted of belonging to a terrorist organisation and terrorist murder. Spaniard Emilio Suarez Trashorras, who also helped supply the bombers with explosives, got thousands of years in jail. Seven of the 28 accused were acquitted of any involvement in the bombings including one alleged mastermind, Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed, known as "Mohamed the Egyptian", who is already jailed in Italy for belonging to an international terrorist group. Another two men accused of planning the attack, who listened to their sentences behind a bullet-proof wall, were also cleared of the March 11 deaths but were found guilty and jailed for belonging to a terrorist organisation. Judge Javier Gomez Bermudez ruled out participation of Basque guerrillas ETA in the bombings, which also injured more than 1,800 people when 10 bombs packed into sports bags ripped through four commuter trains. Prosecutors said the bombers were inspired by al Qaeda. Many survivors and families who lost members gathered at the courthouse and expressed disappointment at the sentences. "There's people that been jailed for a couple of years and I think those will be freed in a couple of month. After the magnitude of the attack they committed against all those people, the Barajas airport bombing and all and nothing, life goes on. Justice should change." said Carlos Zoria who was caught up in the bomb blast. "We were convinced that there were more people behind the attacks, not as part of a conspiracy theory, simply that not only those who sat there were responsible. As a matter of fact, there is only four or five guilty sentences and only for assisting not for carrying out the attacks." said Juan Carlos Vives Segura, a member of The Terrorism Victims Association. Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero addressed himself to relatives of the dead. "The national jury has handed down public sentencing for those who played a part in the terrorist acts of March 11, 2004 in Madrid... the most Cruel (crime) of our time." Zapatero told a news conference. The judge also announced compensation ranging from 30,000 euros ($43,340) to 1.5 million euros for victims. All the suspects pleaded innocent and those found guilty are expected to appeal against their sentences. The verdicts close another chapter on the bombings but with a parliamentary election less than five months away, they could embarrass the opposition centre-right Popular Party, which initially blamed ETA for the attack. The blasts hit three days before the last elections, which the then Popular Party government had looked set to win, despite having led the country into the highly unpopular war in Iraq. But the conservative government's insistence that Basque separatists planted the bombs backfired when evidence piled up to show they were the work of radical Islamists. Days later, voters turned out en masse and brought in the Socialists, who quickly pulled Spanish troops out of Iraq.

ITN Source | October 31, 2007

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