A SUSPECTED al-Qaida cell leader was convicted yesterday of conspiring to commit murder in connection with the September 11 attacks in the United States, concluding Europe’s biggest trial of alleged members of the terrorist group.

A suspected al-Qaida cell leader was today convicted of conspiring to commit murder in connection with the September 11 attacks in the United States and sentenced to 15 years in jail by a Spanish court, while two other suspects were acquitted.

Twenty-four men will go on trial in Spain today as suspected members of an al-Qaida cell charged with using their new homeland as a staging ground for the September 11, 2001, attacks.

A prosecutor is to seek 74,000-year prison sentences for each of three suspected al-Qaida members charged with using Spain as a staging ground for the September 11 attacks in the US.