MADRID - Defence lawyers in Europeâs biggest trial of Al Qaeda suspects appealed Tuesday to Spainâs National Court to acquit suspects charged with helping to prepare the attacks of September 11, 2001 in the United States, warning the court against sentencing âscapegoatsâ on flimsy evidence.
The trial against 24 Islamist suspects including several linked to September 11 is expected to conclude next week. Prosecutor Pedro Rubira has requested more than 74,000 years in prison for suspected Spanish Al Qaeda leader Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas alias Abu Dahdah, his assistant Driss Chebli and Ghasoub al-Abrash Ghalyoun, who shot videos of the World Trade Center and other landmarks in the United States. Rubira has called for âexemplary sentencesâ showing that terrorism could be combated with judicial means instead of prison camps such as Guantanamo or the Iraq war.
Unless you let them out after 15 years served, in the Euro tradition. | âWhen making an example enters the house of justice, law flies out of the window,â argued Ghalyounâs lawyer Jesus Santaella, saying his client had shot videos of U.S. monuments during a holiday and that there was no evidence against him. A defence lawyer for another accused, Mohammed Khair al-Saqqa who is charged with organizing the transport of the videos to Al Qaeda, warned the court against looking for âscapegoatsâ. Abu Dahdahâs lawyer gas accused Spain of staging an âinquisitorialâ trial against Arabs. Abu Dahdah, a Syrian-born businessman, was detained in 2001 when an Al Qaeda cell was dismantled in Spain. |