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Spain Gears for Madrid Train Bombing Trial

A panel of judges at the Spanish National Court ruled last week that investigations into the Madrid train bombings had been completed and the case was ready to go to trial. In March of 2004, 191 innocent people were killed in a series of bombs that were planted on commuter trains in Madrid. A further 1824 people were wounded in the attack. A prosecution order was released to the press, which calls for lifetime incarcerations of all seven bombing suspects and long-term prison for others were are accused of aiding them.

The prosecution called for 38,000-year prison terms for each of the seven suspects. This was calculated based on the fact that murder in Spain comes with a 30-year sentence and attempted murder another 18 years. This was applied to the number of murdered and wounded, with the addition of a 12-year sentence for belonging to a terrorist organization and 80 years for causing damage to four trains through terror activities. Prosecutors believe that Youssef Belhadj, Hassan el Haski, Rabei Osman El Sayed Ahmed were the ideologues of the attack and that Jamal Zougam, Abdelmajid Bouchar, and Basel Ghalyoun planted the bombs on the train. A further suspect ? the only Spanish citizen to be accused among the seven ? is alleged to have supplied the explosives to the terror cell.

Prosecutors believe that continued incitement by Islamic terror organizations, especially Al Quaeda, created the plan to target civilian spots in Spain. The trigger of the attack was a call by Osama bin Laden for terror groups hiding out in Western countries to carry out their plans, following the deployment of allied troops, including from Spain, to Iraq. The trial will begin in February, 2007.