Al-Qaida trial gets underway in Spain

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.

The men – mostly Syrians and Moroccans – will sit on wooden benches in a cramped, bulletproof chamber at a makeshift Madrid courtroom as Spain becomes only the second country after Germany to try suspects in the al-Qaida terrorist assault on the US.

The trial culminates a lengthy inquiry by Baltasar Garzon, Spain’s top anti-terror magistrate, who began investigating Muslim militants in Spain in the mid-1990s and started arresting September 11 suspects just two months after hijacked jets struck the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon.

The lead defendant is Imad Yarkas, aged 42, a Syrian-born Spaniard with a wife and six children.

Under the guise of being a small-time merchant importing used cars for resale, Yarkas is alleged to have overseen an al-Qaida cell that provided logistical cover for September 11 plotters such as Mohammed Atta, believed to have piloted one of the jets that struck the World Trade Centre.

Two other suspects also are accused specifically of helping plan the attack. They are Moroccan Driss Chebli, aged 33, who allegedly helped Yarkas arrange a meeting in Spain in July 2001 attended by Atta and September 11 co-ordinator Ramzi bin al-Shibh; and Syrian-born Ghasoub al-Abrash Ghalyoun, aged 39, who shot detailed video of the World Trade Centre and other landmarks in 1997.

The videotapes were eventually passed on to “operative members of al-Qaida and would become the preliminary information on the attacks against the twin towers”, Garzon wrote in a September 2003 indictment against the three men and 32 other suspects, including al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and fugitive Moroccan Amer Azizi. The indictment was later broadened to 41 people.

Garzon has said his investigation showed Muslim militants leading discreet lives operated freely in Spain for years, allegedly recruiting men for terrorist training in Afghanistan, preaching holy war and laundering money for al-Qaida operations.

Spain was struck by suspected al-Qaida-linked terrorists in the Madrid train bombings of March 2004, which killed 191 people. This week’s trial is expected to lay out legal guidelines for that case as well.

The Spanish cell’s alleged financial mastermind is Mohamed Ghaleb Kalaje Zouaydi, a father of five who Garzon said used property companies to funnel al-Qaida money to other countries.

Under Spanish law, terrorism is classified as a crime that can be prosecuted even if it is alleged to have been committed in another country. Garzon also argues he can go after al-Qaida because the September 11 plot was hatched in part in Spain.

Those standing trial today are the 24 who are in Spanish custody. The rest of the 41 men indicted are either fugitives or in custody in other countries.

Besides Yarkas and his two alleged accomplices, the defendants are charged with belonging to a terrorist organisation, weapons possession or other offences, but not specific involvement in the September 11 plot.

They include Al-Jazeera journalist Tayssir Alouny, who is accused of belonging to al-Qaida.

The trial is being held under tight security at a trade fair pavilion. The normal venue for such proceedings would be the National Court, but it was considered too small for a trial with so many defendants, lawyers and reporters. The trial is expected to last for up to four months.

Prosecutors have requested jail terms of almost 75,000 years each for Yarkas and the other two September 11 defendants – 25 years for each of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the attack. Under Spanish law, the maximum time they can serve for a terrorism conviction is 40 years.

The other defendants face jail terms ranging from nine to 27 years.