Trial for Spanish al-Qaida cell that allegedly helped prepare Sept. 11 attacks to begin April 22 MADRID, Spain The trial of 23 people charged with belonging to a Spanish al-Qaida cell will begin later this month, Spain's National Court said Friday. Three are charged with using Spain as a staging ground for the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States. Spain is the second country to try suspects in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorism, after Germany. The trial, to start April 22, is expected to last at least two months with morning and evening sessions three days a week, the court said. The trial will be held in a specially prepared pavilion at one of Madrid's trade fair venues in the west of the city, it said. For each of the three suspects, prosecutor Pedro Rubira said he is seeking sentences of 25 years in prison for every person killed in the suicide airliner attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The three are the alleged leader of a Spain-based al-Qaida cell, Imad Yarkas, and two alleged accomplices, Driss Chebli and Ghasoub al-Abrash Ghalyoun. Chebli is Moroccan and the two others are of Syrian origin. Rubira said the official death toll of the Sept. 11 attacks was 2,973, so each man faces a possible sentence of more than 74,000 years. However, under Spanish law the maximum amount of time a person can spend in jail for a terrorism conviction is 40 years. Spain has no death penalty or life imprisonment. The 20 others are charged with belonging to a terrorist organization, weapons possession, fraud or other offenses _ not with actually helping to plan the Sept. 11 attacks. The other defendants include al-Jazeera journalist Tayssir Alouny, for whom the prosecutor is seeking nine years in prison, and Yusuf Galan, a Spanish convert to Islam who could face a sentence of 18 years. The case stems from an indictment issued in September 2003 by Spain's leading anti-terrorism judge, Baltasar Garzon, against 35 people, later broadened to 40. Garzon charged that Yarkas, a used-car salesman, provided financing and logistics for key Sept. 11 plotters. In the indictment, Garzon wrote that "it has become crystal clear" that Yarkas "had links to some of the perpetrators of the massacre." Investigators on both sides of the Atlantic say that Spain _ along with Germany _ was a key staging ground for Sept. 11. 050401 171701 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> DonorsChoose. A simple way to provide underprivileged children resources often lacking in public schools. Fund a student project in NYC/NC today! http://us.click.yahoo.com/EHLuJD/.WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
