Four of the 21 men convicted by the High Court at the end of last year's 11-M train station massacre trial were absolved yesterday by the Supreme Tribunal.

They are: Basel Ghalyoun and Mohammed Almallah Dabas, who were sentenced to serve 12 years for belonging to a terrorist organisation; Abdelilah El Faudal El Akil, who got 9 years for collaborating with a terrorist organisation and Spanish national, Raúl González Peña, who was jailed for five years for explosives-trafficking.

By contrast, Antonio Toro, who was cleared by the High Court, has been found guilty of explosives-trafficking and sentenced to serve a four-year term.

Furthermore, the Supreme Tribunal has upheld the acquittal of one of the alleged masterminds of the attack, Rabei Osman El Sayed, alias 'The Egyptian', who is already serving time in Italy for belonging to a terrorist organisation.

Ten 11-M convicts start hunger strike
By: thinkSPAIN
Friday, November 2, 2007

Ten of the twenty-one defendants convicted on Wednesday of the 11-M train station massacre have started a hunger strike in protest at what they consider to be the disproportionate sentences imposed by the three-judge tribunal.

Six of the prisoners are being held at the Alicante II jail in Villena while the four others are being held in various prisons located in the Madrid region.

Among the six refusing food at the Alicante jail are Otman El Gnaoui, who was sentenced to serve 42,924 years and Jamal Zougam (42,922). The others are Hassan El Haski, who got 15 years, and Youssef Belhadj, Fouad El Morabit and Mohannad Almallah Dabas, who were each sentenced to serve 12.

The four Madrid hunger strikers are: Rachid Aglif, who was sentenced to serve 18 years, and Basel Ghalyoun (12 years), who are both being held in Alcalá de Meco jail, Mohammed Larbi Ben Sellam (Aranjuez jail, 12 years) and Abdelmajid Bouchar (Valdemoro jail, 18 years).

High Court delivers 11-M verdicts
By: thinkSPAIN
Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Three men have been sentenced to thousands of years in jail for masterminding the attack on Madrid's Atocha station on the 11th March 2004 that left 191 people dead and 1,856 others injured.

Spaniard José Emilio Suárez Trashorras, who supplied the explosives, was sentenced to 34,715 and a half years while Jamal Zougam and Othman el Ganout were sentenced to 42,922 and 42,924 years respectively.

Eighteen others were convicted of at least one charge while seven, including Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed, known as 'Mohamed the Egyptian', were acquitted. Seven other terrorists believed to have been directly involved in the plot blew themselves up at a flat in Leganés just a few weeks after the attack.

In his summary, the judge confirmed that there was no evidence to prove ETA involvement, that all the explosives came from a mine in Asturias, that the unexploded bomb found in a backpack in Vallecas after the attack was definitely linked to the bombers, and that the terrorists were part of a local Islamist group inspired by, but not directly linked to the Al Qaeda terror movement.

While president Zapatero has reacted to the verdicts by declaring that "the truth has been established" and that "justice has been done," PP opposition leader, Mariano Rajoy, is calling for further investigation into the true motive for the attack which occurred just three days before his party was ousted from power by the socialists' shock general election victory.

The photo shows the entrance to the High Court annexe building in the Casa de Campo (photo), where the trial was held, and where the unanimous verdicts were announced this morning by Judge Javier Gómez Bermúdez, who headed the three-magistrate panel also comprising Alfonso Guevara and Fernando García Nicolás.