Court delivers guilty verdict over Madrid train bombings | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

Posted on November 1st, 2007 by martijn.
Categories: International Terrorism.

Court delivers guilty verdict over Madrid train bombings | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

Paul Hamilos in Madrid, Mark Tran and agencies
Wednesday October 31, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

Spanish judge today found 21 people guilty – but acquitted seven – of the Madrid train bombings that killed more than 190 people in one of Europe’s worst terrorist atrocities in recent years.

To the consternation of some survivors and relatives of the victims, one of the accused masterminds, Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed, known as “Mohamed the Egyptian”, was acquitted along with six others. He is in prison in Milan, Italy, after being convicted of belonging to an international terrorist group.

A representative from a victims’ association said he was unhappy that some of the accused were still walking free.

“It seems to us that only a few of them got a lot of years in prison. There aren’t many heavy sentences considering how many people were affected,” Eutiquio Gutierrez, whose 39-year-old daughter died in the bombings, told Reuters.

Three of the eight main suspects – Emilio Trashorras, a Spaniard, and Jamal Zougam and Othman el-Gnaoui, both Moroccans – received sentences of nearly 40,000 years each. Under Spanish law, however, they can only serve a maximum of 40 years.

Four other lead defendants – Youssef Belhadj, Hassan el Haski, Abdulmajid Bouchar and Rafa Zouhier – were acquitted of murder but convicted of lesser charges including belonging to a terrorist group or trafficking in weapons. Fourteen other people were found guilty of lesser charges such as belonging to a terrorist group. (more…)

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Court delivers guilty verdict over Madrid train bombings | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

Posted on November 1st, 2007 by .
Categories: International Terrorism.

Court delivers guilty verdict over Madrid train bombings | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

Paul Hamilos in Madrid, Mark Tran and agencies
Wednesday October 31, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

Spanish judge today found 21 people guilty – but acquitted seven – of the Madrid train bombings that killed more than 190 people in one of Europe’s worst terrorist atrocities in recent years.

To the consternation of some survivors and relatives of the victims, one of the accused masterminds, Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed, known as “Mohamed the Egyptian”, was acquitted along with six others. He is in prison in Milan, Italy, after being convicted of belonging to an international terrorist group.

A representative from a victims’ association said he was unhappy that some of the accused were still walking free.

“It seems to us that only a few of them got a lot of years in prison. There aren’t many heavy sentences considering how many people were affected,” Eutiquio Gutierrez, whose 39-year-old daughter died in the bombings, told Reuters.

Three of the eight main suspects – Emilio Trashorras, a Spaniard, and Jamal Zougam and Othman el-Gnaoui, both Moroccans – received sentences of nearly 40,000 years each. Under Spanish law, however, they can only serve a maximum of 40 years.

Four other lead defendants – Youssef Belhadj, Hassan el Haski, Abdulmajid Bouchar and Rafa Zouhier – were acquitted of murder but convicted of lesser charges including belonging to a terrorist group or trafficking in weapons. Fourteen other people were found guilty of lesser charges such as belonging to a terrorist group. (more…)

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