Madrid, Spain – A Spanish court Monday sentenced a Syrian man to 27 years in prison for conspiring to commit the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States and leading a cell of the terrorist network al-Qaeda in Madrid. The sentence is the only one to date in connection with the attacks.
In addition to the main defendant – Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, 41, also known as Abu Dahdah – 17 other men were found guilty of either belonging to or aiding his terrorist cell. Those men, including Taysir Alony, a correspondent for the Arabic satellite network Al-Jazeera, received sentences of from six to 11 years.
Though the convictions were considered a victory for Spain’s aggressive campaign of anti-terrorism arrests since the attacks, they fell short of prosecutors’ goals.
They had sought a sentence of more than 74,000 years for Yarkas, based on an estimated death toll of nearly 3,000 when hijacked jetliners were crashed into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.
The three-judge panel rejected the prosecution’s charge that Yarkas was directly responsible for the attacks, agreeing only that he had participated in the plot’s “criminal formation.”
In an interview after the verdict was read, Jacobo Teijelo Casanova, a lawyer for Yarkas, said he will advise his client to appeal the decision.
Yarkas was accused of organizing a meeting in Spain in July 2001 in which final preparations for the Sept. 11 attacks are thought to have been made. The prosecution said it was attended by Mohammed Atta, the lead hijacker, and Ramzi Binalshibh, a Yemeni suspected of being a high-ranking member of al-Qaeda who played a central role in organizing the attacks.
The verdict is one of the few important courtroom victories to come from investigations into the Sept. 11 attacks.
In addition to Yarkas, Driss Chebli, a Moroccan, and Ghasoub Al Abrash Ghalyoun, a Syrian, were accused of involvement in the Sept. 11 plot, but they were acquitted of the charges Monday.
Chebli was convicted of collaborating with a terrorist group.