Al Qaeda leader sentenced to 27 years

By Elisabeth O’Leary

MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s High Court jailed an al Qaeda
leader for 27 years on Monday, finding he conspired with the
September 11 plotters but clearing him and two others of
killing 2,973 people in the attacks on New York and Washington.

Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, Driss Chebli and Ghasoub al
Abrash Ghalyoun could have faced jail sentences of more than
74,000 years each if convicted of helping plan the September 11
attacks.

But in a setback for prosecutors and magistrates who have
spent years investigating the case, the High Court threw out
the most serious charges.

The trial is the latest in a series of high-profile
terrorism cases around Europe in which prosecutors have had
only limited success.

Yarkas and Ghalyoun, both Syrian-born, and Moroccan-born
Chebli were among 24 people tried in Europe’s biggest trial of
suspected Islamist militants.

A three-judge panel heard from more than 100 witnesses
during a 2-1/2 month trial that ran from April to early July at
a high-security courtroom on the outskirts of Madrid.

Eighteen of the accused were convicted of a crime, mostly
of membership or collaborating with a terrorist group, and were
handed sentences ranging from six to 27 years in prison.

Six defendants were acquitted on all counts, including
Ghalyoun who was accused of giving a video of New York
landmarks to al Qaeda to help them carry out the September 11
attacks.

The video, played at the trial, bore all the hallmarks of
standard holiday picture-taking, with pictures of friends that
included the cue “Say cheese.”

Among those convicted was Al Jazeera journalist Tayseer
Alouni, who was sentenced to seven years for collaborating with
a terrorist group.

The Arab satellite broadcaster denounced the sentencing of
Alouni, who interviewed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden shortly
after the September 11 attacks.

“This is a black day for the Spanish judiciary which has
deviated from all the norms of international justice,” Al
Jazeera news editor Ahmed al-Sheikh told the station.

APPEALS

All the defendants had protested their innocence and
representatives of several said they would appeal.

Yarkas was jailed for 12 years for being a leader of a
terrorist group and 15 years for “conspiracy to commit
terrorist murder.”

Chebli was jailed for six years for co-operating with an
armed group, but acquitted of murder.

Two other defendants, Ousama Darra and Jasem Mahboule were
jailed for 11 years each for being leaders of al Qaeda.

The wife of Abdalrahman Alarnot, jailed for 8-1/2 years for
belonging to a terrorist organization, said her husband had
nothing to do with terrorism.

“How do you explain such an injustice to the children?” the
wife, who declined to give her name, told reporters.

Yarkas and Chebli were accused of helping prepare a July
2001 meeting in Spain at which prosecutors say the September 11
attacks may have been planned. Hijacker Mohamed Atta and Ramzi
bin al-Shaibah, suspected coordinator of the U.S. attacks, were
alleged to have attended.

The evidence against Yarkas included a wire-tapped phone
conversation that he had on August 27, 2001 with Farid Hilali,
another September 11 suspect held in Britain.

In the conversation, Hilali referred to aviation training,
saying “they are giving very good classes” and said “they have
chopped off the head of the bird” — which investigators
interpreted as a reference to the coming attacks.

Yarkas told the court that the call “has absolutely nothing
to do with what you say.”

The Madrid case pre-dates the al Qaeda-linked Madrid train
bombings of March 11, 2004 that killed 191 people. Another
judge has accused more than 100 people of a role in those
attacks.