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.