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October 15, 2007
Spain: Islamists On Trial In Same Court They "Planned To Bomb"
News from AFP via Expatica and from DPA via Raw Story:
In Madrid today, the trial began of 30 Islamists who are accused of plotting to place a truck laden with explosives outside Spain's high court, as well as plotting to blow up other buildings.
The alleged ringleader of the group is Abderrahman Tahiri aka Mohammed Achraf, an Algerian who was born in the United Arab Emirates. This individual is said to have formed four cells to attack Spanish targets since 2000. Tahiri had been jailed in a prison near Salamanca between 1999 and 2002 for credit card fraud, and it was while in prison that he gathered most of his recruits. He spread his ideas to other prisons, according to letters recovered from jail inmates.
Tahiri was in Switzerland using his alias when he was detained. He was extradited to Spain to stand trial, and prosecutors want him to serve 46 years in jail. The group that Tahiri was acting for, Martyrs for Morocco, is said to have Al Qaeda links. It was disbanded in 2004.
Tahiri is said to have ordered one of the other accused - Kamara Birahima DIadie, Mauritanian national - with acquiring a ton of dynamite with which to carry out proposed bomb attacks.
The plot had been to attack the High Court (Audencia Nacional) in Madrid using 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) of explosive in a truck. Other targets were a train station in central Madrid, and the HQ of the Popular Party. This party was in power, led by Jose Maria Aznar, when the Islamist group was uncovered in 2004.
There are connections between this trial and the trial of 28 people who are charged with the Madrid train bombings of March 11, 2004, which killed 191 people. One of the accused in the current trial (Abdelkrim Benesmail) is a witness at the other train bomb trial.
Benesmail had earlier been convicted for membership of terror group GIA (Groupe Islam Arme) as had Allekema Lamari. Allekema Lamari had been one of seven people who blew themselves up in an apartment in the Madrid suburb of Leganes on April 3, 2004 (pictured). This explosion also killed one police officer and wounded 11 more.
Another individual who is currently under protection has provided evidence for both trials.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at October 15, 2007 8:44 PM
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