BBC: Madrid train bombing trial begins

[Eugene]

Last Updated: Thursday, 15 February 2007, 10:27 GMT

Madrid train bombing trial begins

The trial of 29 people accused of involvement in train bombings
that killed 191 people in March 2004 has begun in the Spanish
capital, Madrid.

Seven of the suspects, most of whom are Moroccan, will face
charges of murder and belonging to a terrorist group.

The other 22 face charges including collaborating with a terrorist
group and handling explosives.

More than 1,700 people were injured in the multiple bomb attacks,
which targeted four Madrid rush-hour trains.

Investigators in Spain have attributed the attacks to a local cell
of Islamic extremists inspired by al-Qaeda.

-snip-

Full article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6363149.stm

[CJCRANE]

1. Wow

actual legal proceedings and live on TV. Good for the Spanish.

Now let's see the same thing for 9/11 and 7/7.

[struggle4progress]

2. Spain furious as US blocks access to Madrid bombing 'chief'

Sean O’Neill

... He was detained in October 2005 as he shopped for breakfast in Quetta, close to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Pakistani intelligence agents shot Setmarian’s Saudi bodyguard dead but were under specific instructions to take Setmarian alive.

The FBI had offered a $5 million reward for his capture and President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan stated in his recent memoirs that his country has received substantial sums in bounties from the US authorities.

... Within a month of his capture Setmarian was handed over to the United States authorities and spirited away for interrogation at one of their secret prisons. His first stop was probably Bagram airbase, near Kabul, but his current whereabouts are unknown ...

Spanish intelligence agents were said to have been allowed to question inmates of Guantanamo Bay about Setmarian in 2002. But access to suspects in US custody was blocked after Spain withdrew its troops from Iraq following the Madrid bombs ...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article1391123.ece