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November 6, 2006

Italy: Muslim Suspected Of Madrid Train Bombings Is Convicted

News from ANSA, AKI, BBC, Reuters via MSNBC and Topix.net, and Associated Press via Topix, CNN, CTV and the Repository, reports that a court in Italy has today found an Egyptian Muslim guilty of "subversive conspiracy with the aim of international terrorism", a terrorism charge introduced after 9/11, and has sentenced him to 10 years' jail.

35-year old Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed was convicted of subversive association aimed at international terrorism. Another man who was on trial with him, 23-year old Yahi Ragheh, who was said by the prosecution of wanting to be a suicide bomber. The prosecutor, Maurizio Romanelli, had hoped to have Ahmed given a 14-year sentence, with a 7 year jail term for Ragheh.

Ahmed is also wanted in Spain for his part in the Madrid train bombings of March 11, 2004, in which 191 people died and 1,755 people were injured. He has said that knew some of those who were part of the Madrid cell, but in court, he denied involvement.

Romanelli, the prosecutor, had told the court in Milan that although Ahmed had not been in Spain at the time of the attacks, he had spent 18 months in Madrid, showing members of the cell how to use explosives.

In April 2004, Italian police had bugged Ahmed's apartment. Transcripts of this surveillance had been read out in court. In one conversation, Ahmed was discussing the Madrid attacks and told his young protege Ragheh: "It's my work. The project took a lot of studying and a lot of patience. It took me two-and-a-half years."

Another transcript recorded how Ahmed had been pleased while watching a video of Nick Berg being beheaded. He had said: "Come nearer, watch closely, this is the politics you have to follow, the politics of the sword."

The trial judge, Luigi Domenico Cerqua, said today: "Ahmed was not tried here on Madrid bombing charges but purely on the basis of facts that occurred in Italy." Cerqua said that he was sure the evidence against the defendants had caused the jury to convict.

Luca D'Auria, Ahmed's defense lawyer, said that the court had been swayed against his client because of the mention of the upcoming trial in Spain. He claimed that the conviction had been a "foregone conclusion".

Both Ahmed and Ragheh will be appealing.

Ahmed, aka "Mohammed the Egyptian", was indicted on April 11 this year in Spain, with 27 other suspects. He had been arrested on June 8, 2004 in Milan, Italy, after a surveillance operation which had involved Italy, Spain, France and Belgium. He was extradited from Italy to Spain in December that year so that he could be interviewed by the investigating magistrate, Juan del Olmio and be present for judicial actions relating to his indictment. He was returned to Italy in April 2005.

On September 22 this year, an extradition warrant for Ahmed had been issued by Spanish authorities, so that he would be in Spain for the trial involving him and several other suspects, which will commence in February next year.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at November 6, 2006 7:01 PM

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Posted by: Hungarian Crusader at November 6, 2006 9:22 PM

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