Spain opens major trial of al-Qaida suspects

Bin Laden indicted
Bin Laden was among those indicted by Garzon, but Spanish law does not allow trials in absentia for terrorism cases.

Prosecutors are seeking prison terms of nearly 75,000 years each for Yarkas and two other key suspects accused of helping plan the Sept. 11 attacks, although the law limits the maximum time they could serve for a terrorism conviction to 40 years.

The 21 other defendants are charged with terrorism, illegal weapons possession and other offenses not related to the Sept. 11 plot.

The trial is the biggest of al-Qaida suspects in Europe. A Turkish court is trying 69 people accused of involvement in November 2003 bombings that killed 60 people at two synagogues, the British consulate and a London-based bank in Istanbul, an attack that prosecutors say was orchestrated by suspected members of an al-Qaida cell.

As the trial opened, all but one of the mostly Syrian and Moroccan defendants sat on wooden benches in a cramped, bulletproof chamber in the makeshift courtroom. Tayssir Alouny, a reporter for Al-Jazeera television who is the only defendant free on bail, was allowed to sit in the courtroom’s main section because of a heart condition.

Galan, who is accused of illegally possessing weapons and belonging to al-Qaida, was questioned by a prosecutor and the chief of the three-judge panel.

Acknowledges knowing other defendants
He acknowledged knowing some of the defendants as well as others indicted in the case who are fugitives, but said that was only because they went to the same Madrid mosques.

Asked about a shotgun, pistol and other weapons found in his Madrid apartment after his arrest in 2001, Galan said they were for target practice. “I have never used a weapon against a person or animal,” he said.

He also played down a photograph showing him clothed as a Muslim freedom fighter and holding a rifle, saying that members of his family often dress in costumes.

Galan, who allegedly attended a terrorist training camp in Indonesia, was questioned about an e-mail he received from another suspect asking that Galan send weapons.

Galan said anyone could send him an e-mail “asking for the atomic bomb. So what?”

During a break, the defendants chatted animatedly, smiled and appeared to wave at someone through a wall of frosted glass on one side of the chamber.

Police armed with submachine guns and shotguns stood guard outside the courthouse, where the handcuffed defendants were delivered by vans behind a tall iron fence and were escorted inside. The trial is expected to last two to four months in the squat, red-brick building on the outskirts of Madrid.

Besides Yarkas, two other suspects are accused of helping the Sept. 11 plot:

• Driss Chebli, a 33-year-old Moroccan who allegedly helped Yarkas arrange the meeting in July 2001 at which Atta and al-Shibh planned final details of the attack.
• Syrian-born Ghasoub al-Abrash Ghalyoun, 39, who is charged with making videotapes of the World Trade Center and other U.S. landmarks in 1997 that were used to plan the attacks.

MORE FROM EUROPE

Europe Section Front

Obama, in London, meets Brown NYT: Obama wows Europe — vaguely Extradition appeal deadline for Karadzic closer Chavez to Spain's king: Let's hug it out Beating strains U.S., Serb relations Irish officials apologize for visa delay New IVF dilemmas make old fears seem quaint Tourists evacuated from Greek island Election loss deals blow to U.K.'s Brown Men with bars, bats attack refugees in Norway Europe Section Front   Add Europe headlines to your news reader: