Madrid bombing verdict
The verdict has been passed down, four years after the crime…
[snip]
The defendants, 27 men and one woman, 19 mostly Moroccan Arabs and nine Spaniards, had faced charges including murder, forgery and conspiracy to commit a terrorist attack.
Ex-miner Trashorras - who supplied the explosives - Zougam and Ghanoui were found guilty of murder, and sentenced to up to 43,000 years in jail each.
The jail terms are largely symbolic as under Spanish law the maximum term that can be served is 40 years.
Of the nine Spaniards on trial, six were acquitted.
Link.
…and the surviving victims are furious.
Alleged mastermind Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed, known as “Mohamed the Egyptian”, was found not guilty but is in prison in Italy after being convicted of belonging to an international terrorist group.
Watching the verdicts by video link under guard from a court in Milan, Ahmed, who prosecutors claimed had bragged of being the brains behind the attacks, reportedly burst into tears and prayed.
But Isabel Presa, who lost her youngest son in one of the blasts, said: “It has destroyed my life, it has condemned me and my husband to a life sentence, and these people get off scot-free.”
The president of a victims’ association, Pilar Manjon, who lost her 20-year-old son in the attacks, said: “We are going to appeal against this mistake. I don’t like to see killers walking free.”
Maria Jose Guttierez, a Spaniard who lost her sister in the bombings, said: “There are far too few guilty verdicts for such a horrible crime.”
Link.
So.
Are these sentences appropriate? Has justice been served?
&
Does this court case, and the whole legal approach to international terrorism invalidate the notion of military action (WoT)?
