|
Accused Madrid bomb mastermind acquitted
2007-10-31
One of the accused masterminds of the 2004 Madrid terror bombings was acquitted of all charges Wednesday by a Spanish court in the culmination to a politically divisive trial over Europe's worst Islamic militant terror attack. Rabei Osman, a 35-year-old Egyptian, allegedly bragged during a wiretapped phone conversation that the attacks, which killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,800, were his idea. Four of the 27 other defendants in the bombings were found guilty of murder and other charges in the day of carnage etched in Spain's collective memory and known simply as 11-M, much like the term 9-11 in the U.S. Osman was in jail in Italy on other terrorism charges and planned to watch Wednesday's session via video conference. Judge Javier Gomez Bermudez read out the verdicts in a hushed courtroom, with gun-toting police and bomb-sniffing dogs on guard outside. Most of the suspects are young Muslim men of North African origin accused of acting out of allegiance to al-Qaida to avenge the presence of Spanish troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, although Spanish investigators say they did so without a direct order or financing from Osama bin Laden's terror network. The defendants -- whose five-month trial ended in July -- also include nine Spaniards, including one woman charged with supplying stolen dynamite used in the string of rapid-fire explosions. All 28 insisted they were innocent. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. MADRID, Spain (AP) -- The first four of 28 defendants in the 2004 Madrid train bombings were found guilty of murder and other charges Wednesday in the culmination to a politically divisive trial over Europe's worst Islamic militant terror attack. Judge Javier Gomez Bermudez read out the verdicts into the March 11 attacks in a hushed courtroom, with gun-toting police and bomb-sniffing dogs on guard outside. The backpack bomb attacks killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,800. Most of the suspects are young Muslim men of North African origin accused of acting out of allegiance to al-Qaida to avenge the presence of Spanish troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, although Spanish investigators say they did so without a direct order or financing from Osama bin Laden's terror network. The defendants -- whose five-month trial ended in July -- also include nine Spaniards, including one woman charged with supplying stolen dynamite used in the string of rapid-fire explosions. All 28 insisted they were innocent.
| 
